A Change in the Wind
by AlyWanderingSoul
Summary: Unlike the end of "Broken" where Emma and Mary Margaret fall through the Mad Hatter's hat and end up next to Mulan and Aurora, Emma lands somewhere else entirely. She lands right next to a pirate ship being captained by the one and only Hook. This story will follow some plots of the show, but not all of them. Captain Swan.
1. What a Sight to See

Chapter 1: What a Sight to See

No one can deny that Killian Jones has seen a lot of strange, unexplainable things in his time. After all, he has a hook for a hand, and he lives and travels to different magical lands. He has seen magic at its best and its worst. He has seen worlds transform and lands die. However, this is the first time he has seen a woman fall out of the sky smack dab into the ocean. If she had better aim, she could have landed on his ship, although that might have been more painful. Then he would also have to have her killed for damaging his ship. Be that as it may, the strange woman appeared out of nowhere, and Killian Jones, or Hook as he more often goes by, can truthfully say that he has never seen that before.

"Captain…" Hook glances over to see one of his crew approaching him slowly. Upon noticing his glance, the same crew member (he really ought to learn names) motions towards the ripples in the water where the woman has just fallen and is beginning to sink.

"Are you expecting me to jump in and save her?" Hook raises his eyebrows, and at once five members of his crew jump overboard to fetch the woman. Surprisingly there are only a few curse words muttered in his general direction.

While the men rescue the woman, Hook takes a closer look at the sky. She seems to have come out of nowhere, but there is a hint of a dark cloud, but whatever dropped her here has closed or is closing fast. This mystery woman surely has quite a tale to tell, and maybe it will be beneficial to him to hear it.

"Jeez she's heavy."

"That's because she is soaking wet, you idiot!"

He looks down impatiently as the men struggle to bring aboard one meager woman. It shouldn't be this hard for a crew who work long hard hours manning the decks of a large ship to haul an unconscious body onto it.

"Gentlemen, it is one girl! Pick up the pace!" Hook crosses his arms as he waits for them to hoist her body aboard the ship with the help of a couple of men on deck, hoping they are actually skilled enough to transport her aboard without dropping her.

"Bring her here."

Hook kneels down to examine the woman. "Well boys, it could be worse. She could be hideous."

Laughter breaks out among the crew, but Hook is too busy with her to listen. He was right. She definitely is not hideous. Aside from her interesting choice in clothes, she's quite gorgeous. Blondes have never been his thing, well, it's not like he is picky when it comes to the color of a girl's hair. He typically judges women on other characteristics, and judging from the generous curves under her jacket, she's just his type.

Hook leans down a bit further, pressing his ear on her chest, listening for a heartbeat. At the sight, the crew goes quiet. "She's alive." Before looking back up at his crew, he takes a moment to glance down her top. He wouldn't be Captain Hook if he didn't.

"What should we do with her?" As soon after one of his crew says this, the others jump in with suggestions and valiant sacrifices to let her stay in one of their bunks.

"Get back to work." The crew stops talking to give their captain confused looks. "I said, get back to work before I decide that there are now too many people on board and start a line to walk the plank!"

Instantly the crew whips into gear, and Hook picks up the unconscious blonde, throwing her over his shoulder. He's got his own plans for her. As he carries her away, he looks back once more at the now clear sky. Something is happening here, something that involves the woman, and he intends to find out exactly what that something is. And if there is one thing Killian Jones is good at, it is getting what he wants.

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**AN: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Please feel free to leave me a review or just a comment! I would like to thank Chelsea, Devi, and Shama for reading this over and giving me feedback! Stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	2. Awake

Chapter Two: Awake

The first thing that Emma notices is that her head is killing her. As she rubs her it, she notices the second thing. She is moving. Well, not really moving, more like swaying or maybe rocking. Whatever movement is going on, it is far from natural, and her head hurts too much to waste time trying to define it.

"Son of a bitch." Emma mutters as she slowly sits up.

"Sorry about that. My crew doesn't understand how to be gentle, but most of the time the women don't complain."

Emma whips her head around to see a man lounging in a chair a couple feet from her. He looks up from his map, and turns to give her his undivided attention. If she wasn't preoccupied with trying to figure out what the hell happened to her, she would have taken a minute to look over the man. He's attractive enough, and maybe if things were…well damn. Realization dawns on Emma. "You're a pirate."

Hook smirks. "Beauty and brains, what a treat. Tell me, what gave me away? Was it the ship? I bet it was the ship."

Emma rolls her eyes. She hadn't noticed she was on a ship, but that did answer a couple of her questions. "The guyliner, the earring, and," she waves her hands in his direction, "the stereotypical pirate attire."

Hook leans back in his chair and raises his eyebrows, prompting Emma to continue. "You know, the deep plunging neckline that exposes your chest, the black clothing…" At that moment, sunlight bounces off something silver. "And the hook…you have a hook for a hand."

"Well would you look at that, it appears I do." He replies cheekily as he rotates the his hook in the light

Emma opens her mouth slightly, and closes it, trying to wrap her brain around the man in front of her. "Do you mean to tell me that you are _Captain Hook_?"

The smirk is back. "Ah, so you've heard of me."

"No, no, no. That is impossible." Emma turns to face Hook a little more, trying to get a better look at him.

Hook stands up from his chair, gives Emma a bow, and tops it off by taking her hand in his, bringing it up to his lips. "Killian Jones, at your service." Hook looks into her eyes as he plants a kiss on her hand.

"Emma Swan." She lets her hand stay in his for a couple seconds, due to shock. It's not because she enjoyed his lips on her skin, definitely not. When someone introduces himself as Captain Hook, it takes a second for your brain to process the information.

When she goes to pull her hand away, Emma sees that Hook's eyes are no longer staring into her own. In fact, they seem quite focused on her chest. She clears her throat, and rips her hand out of his. Emma crosses her arms over her chest quickly and notices something strange. Instead of feeling the fabric of her jacket underneath her arms, she feels nothing but skin. Her eyes widen, and she quickly reaches down and covers herself with a blanket, doing her best to ignore the chuckles coming from Hook.

"Where the hell are my clothes?"

"There are certain rules on my ship, Swan. One of the most important ones is that only naked women are allowed in my bed. Then there is the whole issue of your clothes being soaking wet." Hook pulls his chair closer to the bed, sitting back down and extending his legs out in front of him. "After all, I am Captain Hook. I've got a reputation to uphold." He offers her his best devilish, and somewhat charming, grin.

"The name's Emma." His eyes begin to slowly make the trail up and down her body, making Emma shiver and clutch the blanket even closer to her. "You're going to give me some clothes. NOW. Before I decide to..."

"Shoot me?" Hook reaches back onto a table, and picks up Emma's gun with his hook. "See that might be a problem. You should really think about these things before deciding to jump into the ocean." He drops her still damp gun onto her lap. "As for your clothes, you can wait for them to dry or I'm sure there's something of mine that would be suitable."

Emma tightens the hold of the blanket that's around her body with one hand as she reaches down with the other to inspect her gun. "Well that's great, and hey, I did not decide to jump into the ocean. Why would I want to jump into the Atlantic Ocean with all my clothes on?"

Hook tilts his head. "I don't know about the Atlantic, love, but when I first saw you, you were falling out of the sky right into the water just a couple feet away from my boat."

"What other ocean would I have landed…wait." Emma runs her fingers through her hair, discovering that it is in fact wet, and leans forward, forgetting the fact that she should be covering herself up. "The last thing I remember is being sucked into Jefferson's hat trying to help Regina send something called a wraith away."

Hook's eyes have once again strayed south, and Emma groans as she reaches for the blanket that has fallen around her lap. "Don't cover up on my account. It's a great view." He winks.

"Hook, shirt. NOW."

"Fine, have it your way, but if you call me Hook, I'm calling you Swan." Hook wanders over to his dresser, and throws the first shirt he can find to Emma. He saunters back to his seat, and is greeted by a death stare.

"Turn around."

"No need for modesty, Swan. You forget that someone had to undresss you and put you in my bed. I've seen every glorious inch of you."

Emma regards him closely for a second, and Hook has the nerve to give her another wink. She grumbles out something along the lines of "fucking pirate," and works on quickly putting on his shirt.

Hook grins and cocks his head to the side, watching Emma for a second before replacing his devilish look with a more serious one. "Wait, did you say you were with Regina and Jefferson?"

Emma looks down at the shirt, grateful that it seems to be big enough to cover most of her. There is a slight plunge in the neckline, but she's worn worse. "Yeah, Regina, Henry, David, Mary Margaret and I borrowed one of Jefferson's hats in order to somehow get the wraith to leave us alone. Waking up on a pirate ship is apparently what I get for helping Regina."

Hook scratches his chin for a moment, processing this new information. "Well, well, you suddenly became more to me than something pretty to look at."

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**AN: **Thank you everyone for the reviews on the last chapter! Thanks Shama for once again reading over this chapter. I'm actually looking for another beta to help me out, if you are interested, please shoot me a message! I wrote this before watching Tallahasee. I imagine that what happened in that episode will appear in a future chapter, or at least moments from it. Thanks again for reading!


	3. Answers

Chapter Three: Answers

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" There are many things that annoy Emma Swan. One of them is smug bastards who think they know everything and that she is just an easy mark to use. She'd been that person once, and there is no way she is falling for that again. Her guard has been up ever since she awoke to find a pirate staring at her. The good thing for her is that Hook has no idea what she is capable of, and hopefully that will play to her advantage.

Hook grins, admiring how ballsy she is. "It means that you may be of use to me. You are going to tell me everything about you and everything you know."

"First of all, could you be any more vague? I'm not going to list off my life history as well whatever random facts I can pull out of my head. If you want answers, you are going to need to be more specific, and secondly, why would I do that?"

"Ah you forget that you are stranded on my ship, love. You can look at it one of two ways. Option one," Hook holds up one finger, "I rescued you from certain death, placing you in my debt."

"You said your crew saved me, not you." Emma counters.

"The key word is my, _my_ crew. Like I was saying, it would be in your best interest to start working off your debt whatever way I see fit. I imagine that talking to me might be more up your alley, although I can think of other ways you can repay me." His eyes begin to travel down Emma's body again, making her shiver.

"Option two," Hook continues, surprisingly choosing not to comment on Emma's reaction to his gaze. "You are in my bed, wearing my shirt and therefore at my mercy. Your gun may be dry enough to fire, but I'm thinking I can overpower you. Take your pick, Swan, but either way you are telling me everything."

Emma takes a minute to assess her surroundings. This isn't the toughest situation she has been in. Her life as a bounty hunter put her up against numerous criminals who did their best to out run her, and given her high success rate, most of them failed. Despite the fact that the bed is on the far side of the room from the door, it wouldn't be too much of a struggle to get there. However, even if she could get past Hook, there is the slight issue of being on a pirate ship in some ocean, wait where is she exactly?

"Well what's it going to be? Tick, tock, love."

"Fine, but I've got some demands of my own." Emma straightens up, giving Hook one of her more serious looks. She usually reserves it for when she confronts bail jumpers in order to make them forget any thoughts of running or trying to do things any way other than hers. Given the fact that Hook is a criminal, it should work on him as well. After all, pirate stories don't typically feature a pirate that is a good and honest man, and if there are such pirates, there's no way Captain Hook is one of them.

Hook raises an eyebrow before laughing. "Well aren't you feisty." There aren't many things that a woman can do to earn even a moment of admiration from him, but Emma's proving to be an exception and a gorgeous one at that. "While I admire the courage, Swan, you don't get any demands. Let me tell you how it works on my ship. I make the demands, you follow them."

"All I want is some answers of my own. Like you love pointing out, I fell out of the sky. I'm on a pirate ship apparently, and I have absolutely no idea where I am. Odds are I'm not in Kansas anymore. Do you think you could manage a couple answers, _Hook_?"

He tenses at the tone Emma uses when she says his name. While he says 'Swan' with tones of playfulness, she practically spit his out. "I don't know much about this Kansas, but seeing as how I've never traveled there, I guarantee you are not there."

Emma sighs. "It's a _Wizard of Oz_ reference."

Hook raises an eyebrow. "A wizard, huh? I haven't had the best experiences with wizards." Emma starts to jump in, but Hook waves her off. "You mentioned Jefferson earlier, which means mostly likely you were using one of his hats. From there it is obvious that you fell through a portal and landed here in my world. It's not much. The curse destroyed most of it, but as long as I've got a ship and a pretty lass, I'm alright."

Emma leans forward quickly at his mention of the curse. "Are you saying I'm in fucking fairytale land?" She laughs. "This is great. First I discover everyone in Storybrooke is a cursed fairytale character, and that I am their savior. I'm nobody's savior, but they just wouldn't listen. On top of that, when the curse was broken, I find out that I really do have parents, and if that wasn't enough, I end up going through the rabbit hole alone. Fan-fucking-tastic."

Hook begins to chuckle causing Emma to glare. "You'd make a great pirate."

"I'm glad you find me amusing."

"Well," Hook leans forward, matching Emma's current pose, "now that you've had your answers, it's my turn."

Emma leans back a tad, trying to get some distance between her and Hook, which earns her a smile from him. "What exactly do you want from me?"

"You're going to help me find my crocodile." Hook states.

"Why the hell would I know where to find a crocodile? There aren't a lot of crocodiles in Storybrooke, considering the fact that it is in Maine. The only exotic animal I've run into there was a wolf. I almost hit him with my car, actually. It did turn out that he was…" Emma grows quiet.

"He was what, love?" Hook asks in a surprisingly soft voice.

Emma resists the urge to shiver at how soft his voice got. His eyes are staring back into hers. Nope there isn't any time for this. She shakes her head and replies quietly. "Nothing." She clears her throat, returning to her normal speaking voice. "Like I was saying, there aren't any crocodiles in Storybrooke."

"This wolf was important to you, wasn't he Swan?" His voice is still soft as if trying to convince her that it wouldn't be too terrible to open up to him.

Emma crosses her arms, hoping that if she stays quiet enough, Hook will just move on.

He doesn't. After a minute, Emma sighs. "He could have been. Now, if you want a crocodile, I suggest you head to Louisiana."

"Not that kind of crocodile, pet, although if you are suggesting we take a trip together, I wouldn't say no." Hook flashes her his best smile, which Emma greets with an eye roll. "The crocodile I'm looking for is a different type of beast all together. You may know him as Rumpelstiltskin."

"I don't know a Rumple…" Emma stops and shakes her head. "Mr. Gold. He's Rumpelstiltskin and a crocodile to you apparently, as if this whole fairytale thing isn't crazy enough. "

"Says the lass who fell through a portal into the ocean and is now sitting across from the devilishly handsome Captain Hook."

"Not sure about the handsome part but yeah." Emma scoffs as she looks around Hook's room. "It's still hard to believe that this is all real."

Hook leans forward slowly, his eyes on Emma as he places his hands, well hand and hook, on either side of her waist close enough that his hand is lightly touching her thigh. His face is now inches from hers, "Oh I'm real, Swan. If you need convincing, feel free to give me a good poke." His eyes glance down to her lips. "Or something along those lines."

Before Emma can process this, Hook's door bursts open. "Captain, we've…" The intruder is silenced by Hook, who has shifted his focus from Emma to the crew member. Judging by the look on the guy's face, Hook isn't smiling at him.

"What. Do. You. _Want_?"

The intruder is now focused on Emma. She can feel his eyes on her, most likely taking in the fact that she is in Hook's bed wearing Hook's shirt with Hook practically in her lap. Emma's torn between the option of distancing herself from Hook or attempting to hide behind him. Thankfully before she is forced to choose, Hook is on the move.

"Get. OUT." Hook throws the guy out of the door before following him and slamming the door behind them.

xxx

Hook stares as the intruder runs away from him. He left the man still breathing, but most likely it is going to hurt for him to talk for the next couple of days.

_Fucking pirates._

He laughs, realizing where he picked up that phrase.

_Emma Swan. Now there is a mystery, a damn good looking one at that, especially in my shirt. It's hard to top seeing a lass naked, but her in my shirt. That's just criminal._

Hook groans, leaning his head back until it hits the wall behind him.

_She's a way to get to the crocodile, a way to get vengeance. _

xxx

Emma sighs as she lies back on the bed, shutting her eyes.

_Where did I go wrong? In the brief period of time I have been here, wherever exactly here is, I have already been bedded by Captain Hook. Wait, that didn't come out right. To say that Hook is a pain in the ass is an understatement, but there is just something else about him, something that I do not have any time to think about, no matter how much I want to. Of course, not that I want to._

_Let's recap what we've learned, shall we? Right, focus on your surroundings, not on Hook. So, I'm in fairytale land, which apparently does exist and still has people in it. One of those people is Captain Hook. As far as a pirate goes, he is not so bad. I mean yes he is annoying and smug, but he isn't all too bad to look at._

_Damnit, Emma, stop! You are all alone in a new land filled with fucking fairytale characters. Everyone you know is back in Storybrooke, and you've got to get back to them. You've got to get back to…_

"Henry_._"

Emma sits back up as Hook walks back into the room. "You might want to get dressed, pet. We're headed ashore."

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**AN: **Thank you everyone for the reviews and comments on the last chapter! I enjoy reading them! I huge thank you to Shama and Chelsea for reading over this chapter!

Now for some fic related things. In my story, Emma believes she came through the portal alone. I haven't decided if Mary Margaret fell through as well yet, but I've still got time to figure it out. Whether or not I put Mary Margaret in Storybrooke or in fairytale land, Emma believes that she is in Storybrooke. Also, I am not sure exactly how much of fairytale land survived the curse on the show, but in my story, there are still people and establishments around. I may include in the next chapter that they are in another land, I haven't decided yet. I just wanted to share my thoughts on how things are in my story vs. the show.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	4. Heading Ashore

Chapter 4: Heading Ashore

It is surprisingly difficult to get dressed on a ship. After a couple collisions with the dresser and the table, Emma manages to get her mostly dry clothes back on. The next challenge? Walking through the door, out onto the ship. Odds are the rest of the crew has heard about her and Hook, not that there is such a thing, but still, pirates talk. If the stories she heard growing up are true, then pirates essentially have locker room talk all the time.

Emma glares at the door. "You can do this. You've tackled all sorts of low life scum before. Of course that was in the real world, but hey, pirates are a kind of lowlife, right? And now I am talking to myself, great." With that, Emma walks out the door.

She doesn't get far. Not to fall into the stereotype of women don't know where they are going, but, Emma is sort of lost in the sense that she does not know, well, which direction to go. Hey, it's her first time on a pirate ship, so it really shouldn't be that much of a shock. It's not like the US offers Pirate Ship Layout 101 in school.

"Oi! I mean it! If you aren't back on the ship in time, I'm leaving ya!"

When in doubt, follow the sound of an angry pirate. It takes her a minute, but she finally spots Hook.

"About bloody time woman!"

"Well you didn't exactly leave a map now did you?" Emma retorts. Unfortunately for her, she still isn't quite used to life on a ship yet, and she stumbles a bit as she walks over to him. Hook reaches out and grabs her arm, steadying her. His fingers begin dancing along her pulse point on her wrist.

"Ah, no sea legs I see. Don't worry, Swan, I've got you." He winks as he pulls her in closer to him, giving her hand a reassuring kiss.

Emma's eyes linger on his. "So, um, you said something about heading ashore."

Hook smirks, realizing that Emma hasn't tried to pull away from him. He lowers her hand from his face, holding it to his chest, his fingers still tracing patterns on her wrist. "I've got an important meeting in a tavern in town."

Emma scoffs. "A tavern? You know you could just say bar."

"Pirate, love."

"Am I going to get my hand back anytime soon?" Her voice comes out softer than intended. She can't decide the safest place to look. Either Emma looks at his eyes and risks him reading her, or she stares at him holding her hand. Right now, she just alternates between the two.

Hook laughs and gives her hand a squeeze. "And risk you injuring yourself as we walk off the ship? I may be a pirate, lass, but I'm not cruel."

This warrants another eye roll. "Lead on then."

"Right this way, milady." Hook kisses Emma's hand once more before dropping it in order to place his hand at the small of her back, guiding her to the ramp off the boat.

"Since when did you become such a gentleman?" Emma decides against trying to get away from Hook's touch. Odds are that it will not do any good. Plus, his hand feels nice there, radiating warmth that trickles up and down her spine.

"Oh, Swan, I'm always a gentlemen." His breath is hot on her ear, but what's worse is as quickly as it is there, it's gone in a flash. Hook chuckles at Emma's reaction. He steps in front of her, offering his hand to help her walk down the ramp.

For the rest of the walk, Emma tries to focus on anything other than his shoulder brushing up against hers. The scenery becomes a good distraction. Wherever they are, it doesn't look cursed. Due to the way Regina talked about it, Emma pictured a dark abyss or just nothing but scorched earth. However, currently she is walking through a town. It's a small town that reminds her of an earlier time, mostly due of the use gas lights and torches that are lighting up the dark sky. Nevertheless, it still looks like a town full with various buildings. If this town was cursed, they certainly recovered nicely.

"This place doesn't look cursed."

Hook cocks his head to the side to get a better look at Emma. They have been walking for a couple minutes in silence. Normally he prefers to chat, but Emma Swan is a challenge, and it would be much more enjoyable, for him, if she initiated the conversation. While explaining to her where they are isn't his first choice of a conversation topic, he'll take it. Plus there is the fact that she hasn't attempted to distance herself from him, which is a good sign.

"There are many lands, love. This one isn't the one that the Evil Queen cursed."

"Regina only cursed one? Wow that doesn't seem like her." Emma scoffs as she continues to look around. "How many are there? Lands, I mean. If there is more than one Regina, I really don't want to know. I can barely tolerate her."

Hook chuckles. "I don't have time to get into a history lesson right now, Swan. I am curious as to why you tolerate the Evil Queen at all. Surely you could do something about her."

Emma spins around, stopping Hook in his path. He grins and leans in closer, his face hovering above hers. "As tempting as the prospect of stopping in the darkness with you is," his lips brush against hers to demonstrate what he means, "we really don't have the time."

Suddenly, Emma forgets why she stopped walking to stand in front of him. If she had to guess it would be that she had a snarky remark to make or maybe to set the record straight. Whatever her grand plan had been, it's gone now. The feeling of his lips against hers is the only thing running through her brain. That slight sensation is consuming her body and depriving it at the same time. She needs to say something because Hook is giving her that damn smirk. The one he uses when he knows he's bested her.

"And why not?" Granted, that's not the best thing she could have said, especially since it comes out in a soft, borderline desperate schoolgirl voice, but for some reason that is what her brilliant brain comes up with. She doesn't mean it like that, clearly. There are more pressing matters than making out with Captain fucking Hook.

Hook's face is still inches away from hers, and so when he laughs, Emma can feel it. He pulls back, standing a respectful distance away from her. "Because we are here, pet. Now, I've got a business meeting to attend to, so you are going to sit at the bar and not get into any sort of trouble. Do I make myself clear?"

Emma pretends not to notice the gush of cold air that hits her when Hook steps back. "What am I, five? I am perfectly capable of handling myself, thank you." Emma gives him a glare, which he definitely earned. She hits his shoulder with hers as she marches past him, muttering "fucking pirate" as she walks into the bar.

Hook stands outside for a minute or two in shock. He can't help grinning. "Fucking Swan." He strolls inside, and scans the room. After giving a nod at his soon to be business partner sitting at a table in the back of the bar, Hook continues to look for Emma. He finds her looking rather comfortable at the bar. She is resting her head in her hand, her elbow propped up on the bar and there's no doubt that she is giving the bartender her best smile. Hook scoffs, a twinge of something that can't be jealousy building up inside of him probably due to the fact Emma hasn't used that smile on him. Hook shifts focus over to the bartender whose eye line does not seem to be focused on Emma' gorgeous blue eyes - _been there mate._

Hook sighs as he walks over to Pete. Hopefully this business deal will prove to be a distraction from one gorgeous blonde.

It doesn't.

To be fair, it isn't for lack of trying. It's hard for even a pirate to ignore a damsel in distress or a drunken bastard who doesn't understand the word no or when to stop drinking. Hook's eyes flicker between Pete and the scene unfolding with Emma. Some drunk made the mistake of going up to her, attempting to persuade her to join him at an inn. He's so drunk that volume isn't something he can really control, allowing Hook, and the rest of the bar, to hear the entire exchange. This, _Charlie _has got some nerve. At the sight of Charlie sliding his hands up Emma's thighs, Hook subconsciously begins digging his hook into the wooden table – _fucking bastard._

"Err, Killian?" Hook's eyes flash back over to Pete, the anger most likely radiating from his gaze. "Hook, sir, sorry, Captain Hook. Are you interested?"

"Stay here." Hook snaps as he heads over to Emma. He is about to dig his hook into Charlie's neck when Emma slams the bastard's head into the bar, resulting in him passing out and falling down right in front of Hook.

"Anyone else want a go?" Emma yells at the onlookers.

"It appears I can't take you anywhere, Swan." There's a little bit of pride building up in Hook.

"I told you I can take care of myself." She sits back down on her barstool and takes another swig of her drink.

"Oh no you don't." He uses his hook to gently pull Emma off her barstool.

"Hey!" Emma grabs her drink off the bar and grudgingly let's Hook drag her over to him.

"Now listen to me closely, Emma." She freezes at the use of her first name, and she has to lean in close to hear him as he is now speaking in a whisper. Emma nods to show that she is listening.

"Good girl." She rolls her eyes but lets him continue.

"You see that man over there." He nods his head back to Pete, who like the rest of the bar is paying very close attention to how close the blonde has gotten to the dangerously charming Captain Hook. There's a mixture of concern and fascination in their looks. "He's the guy I've got a very important meeting with, and you are going to join in. All you are going to do is sit and look pretty but mostly uninterested in what is going on. This guy isn't trustworthy or safe, so just do as I say."

"Aye, aye, Captain." Emma gives her a mock salute that's accompanied by a million watt smile. She motions for him to lead the way to the table.

"No sass either." Hook says with a grin.

"I make no promises. Oh and for the record, it's pretty rich to have you warning me about an unsavory character. Is this like a takes one to know one sort of deal?"

Hook would have replied except for the fact that they are back at Pete's table. "Alright, where were we Pete?"

He snags a chair behind him, dragging it forward with his hook. It's probably the closest Hook has ever come to pulling out a chair for a lady, but after that showdown at the bar, perhaps Emma isn't quite the lady after all. She's pirate material, that's for sure.

Emma sits down, and ignores the glare that Pete is all of a sudden giving her. Sitting at a bar with criminals is not something too out of the ordinary for her, but it hasn't happened since her trip to Storybrooke. She may be a little rusty, but she knows how to appear completely nonthreatening. Playing the blonde card is second nature to her.

Her focus shifts between observing Pete and watching Hook. While Pete looks nervous and jittery, Hook is calm, looking almost bored. He's a crafty pirate alright. His boredom is all for show, driving down the potential price. Every now and then Hook will glance over at Emma for a second before returning his focus to Pete.

Speaking of Pete, there is something off about him, besides the whole shady deal in the back of the bar thing. There is the normal shady feeling like Hook radiates, and then there is Pete. Emma takes another drink, and turns her focus onto the conversation going on at the table, her curiosity getting the best of her.

"So let me get this straight, you want me to allow you passage on my ship?" Hook scoffs at the idea, as if he doesn't let random people onboard.

"Look, I just want to get back to my family." Pete pleads.

"Bullshit."

* * *

**AN: **I hope you enjoyed the chapter! A huge thank you to everyone who has favorited, followed, and reviewed. Thanks to the lovely Shama for reading over the chapter!


	5. Mighty Fine Shindig

Chapter 5: Mighty Fine Shindig

Looking back, maybe speaking up wasn't the best course of action. Well, it's not like Emma said it loudly or anything. It was more of a mutter. Clearly she didn't say it softly enough because now Hook and Pete are both glaring at her. There are two ways to play this: the 'oops did I say something' dumb blonde routine or Emma could go all in. She chooses the latter.

"You heard me." Emma leans forward towards Pete. "Bullshit."

"Swan," Hook tries to carefully warn her to back off without signaling to Pete that Emma is disobeying him. If Pete thinks that the great Captain Hook can't keep one meager woman in line, there is no way Hook would get a fair price off this deal. If he would be getting any deal at all.

Emma ignores Hook and keeps her focus trained on Pete, who is doing his best at looking outraged and hurt. "You see, Pete, I've got a special talent, some may call it a superpower. I can tell whenever someone is lying. Today, that someone appears to be you."

Pete scoffs and crosses his arms, glowering at Emma before looking at Hook. "Those are the terms. Let me aboard your ship to return to my family – "

"Try again." Emma cuts in.

Pete continues talking as if Emma didn't interrupt him, "and you can have what you want. I won't try to charge you anything else or bring you any trouble."

"Wow, there's another one." Emma is a little impressed that Pete keeps trying. The bail jumpers who folded easily when Emma would confront them were never that exciting. She likes a challenge, and at the table, she currently has two challenges in front of her: Hook and Pete.

Hook is torn between ignoring Emma and taking what she is saying seriously. Like he warned her, Pete is not a trustworthy character. The question is do you extend some trust to an untrustworthy character or do you go with the pretty blonde who fell out of the sky.

"Captain Hook, I don't know who this _wench_ is, but I assure you she is the liar." Pete isn't prepared for the look of outrage on both Hook and Emma's faces.

Emma does her best to rein in her anger. She has been called all sorts of names before, but never a wench. Then again, wench isn't a term used a lot in the real world. Usually the guys she goes after like to call her a bitch, which rhymes with wench, so hey, the fairytale world criminals aren't too far off base.

Hook isn't concerned about keeping his anger in control. It looks like he is weighing the pros and cons of killing Pete right there on the spot. The internal debate doesn't last long. He wraps his hook around Pete's neck, practically pulling him onto the table. "You should know better than to insult my woman in front of me."

"If I were you, I would just hand over whatever the hell Hook wants before this goes south for you." Emma states. She keeps her eyes on Pete, not trusting herself to look over at the captain. The phrase 'my woman' keeps repeating in her mind. For a minute there, she likes it and the sense of safety that comes along with it. Despite the fact that she has taken care of herself for 28 years, she is far out of her element here, wherever exactly here is. In fact, it might be a good thing to stay in Hook's good graces. Aside from the whole waking up in his bed naked thing, he hasn't done anything to hurt her. He's protected her, not that she needs protection. Being protected is not something Emma Swan is used to. Sure, Henry claims that Snow White and Prince Charming, her parents, were protecting her when they sent her away. To Emma, what they did was abandon her, just like everyone else has in her life. There's no reason why Hook would not do the same. Emma Swan is made to be left, but at least she knows it.

Pete gasping for air snaps Emma back into reality. "You didn't think I came alone, did you?"

Hook laughs and jerks Pete forward. "You do realize who I am, right? I love a good brawl."

Emma begins scanning the bar, and sure enough, various patrons are now brandishing weapons. Best guess is there is a code word that Pete has to say to whip them into attack mode. That is the upside, if there is such a thing. The downside, she and Hook are vastly outnumbered. There might be a couple members of Hook's crew here, but most of the patrons seem to be on team Pete.

"Killian." Emma warns.

Hook tenses at the sound of his name rolling off Emma's lips. He never thought he would hear another woman say his actual name. No one that he cares about has said it since Milah, but then again, he hasn't really cared about anyone since her. His moniker has gained too much fame and imposes too much fear, and so there isn't a soul alive who refers to him as Killian. Without letting go of Pete, he turns to look at her. "Afraid of a fight, love?"

Emma scoffs and rolls her eyes. Only a pirate would be excited by the prospect of getting attacked. "Pete, last chance. Just hand over the –"

"Magic bean." Hook gives Pete a shake.

Emma cocks her head to the side, and bites back a laugh. Hook seems pretty serious on the magic bean thing, and judging by Pete's reaction, that is exactly what he came to trade. As if the numerous lands in fairytale world filled with magic and pirates weren't hard enough to believe, now there are magic beans.

Before Pete has a chance to make any sort of response, the bar swings into action. The first thing Emma hears is the cocking of a gun, which automatically makes her whip out her own that's tucked in at the small of her back. She aims it at one of the numerous people brandishing a weapon in her and Hook's direction. Emma just picks one, considering there are about six guys with guns at this point.

At the sight of the size of her gun, the bar bursts out laughing. One man steps forward, his gun trained on Hook rather than Emma. "Now little lady, why don't you put your toy away and let the men handle this."

Hook is still focused on Pete, but Emma does hear him chuckle. "What are we in the wild West?" Emma scoffs, and shoots the guy in the wrist, making him drop his gun. "I think my toy gun works just fine, but just in case," she slowly reaches down to pick up the gun that the man dropped.

Big mistake.

As Emma wraps her hand around the gun, she hears the sound of a sword being unsheathed. It's a little unnerving that Emma recognizes that sound, considering it is not a common one back home. Nevertheless, it seems that everyone else in the bar has decided now is a good time to strike.

Honestly, the next couple minutes are a blur to Emma. She remembers feeling the edge of a sword briefly on the back of her neck, but before she can react, the assailant is on his back next to her. Emma doesn't have time to try to figure out what happened to the guy. She attempts to use the gun she picked up from the ground, but it is a little too bulky to use one handed, so she just knocks someone out with it while shooting anyone pointing a weapon at her in the hand. Injuring someone is much better than killing in her book, so her instincts are to shoot them to where they have to drop their weapon.

At some point she ends up being backed up against a wall by a nut job brandishing a broken beer mug. The crazy ones are always the most dangerous, even if they are only armed with broken glass. She manages to get a couple punches in, but the guy is pretty skilled with an improvised weapon, giving Emma a good couple slices on her face and arm. That's when she decides to go for the failsafe: she knees him in the groin. He falls down hard, and the mug shatters.

Emma glances around at the chaos that the bar has turned into. There are numerous men on the ground either knocked out or bleeding out. Surprisingly there are people that are just sitting and having a drink, oblivious to the fight going on around them. Then there is Hook. Right now he is fending off three guys. He is using a sword and his hook, which is surprisingly effective. However, he is losing steam fast.

A table near her wobbles a bit, which wouldn't be strange under these circumstances except for the fact that the table isn't positioned near the fight. Emma squats down and finds Pete trying to crawl his way out of the bar unnoticed. She grabs a shard of the broken mug and holds it up to his throat.

"Now, about that bean."

Pete makes the mistake of taking the time to think things over, forcing Emma to dig the shard of glass into his skin, drawing blood.

"Fine, FINE! Take it!" He quickly reaches into his pocket, and throws a small black pouch at Emma.

Without removing the shard of glass from his neck, Emma peeks inside the pouch. Sure enough here is a bean in there, but whether or not it is magical is still to be determined. Emma leans in close to Pete, her eyes staring into his. "Is this the magical bean that Hook wants?"

Pete swallows painfully and nods. "Yes, that's the one. I promise."

After staring at Pete for a couple more seconds, Emma is satisfied that he is telling the truth. She quickly stands up, and grabs a gun from the nearest person next to her, firing it into the air. Yup, that got everyone's attention. "Sorry for the disturbance, but we will be leaving now."

"Bloody hell we will!" Hook yells as he delivers a punch to one of the guys near him.

"Killian!"

Hook turns to look at Emma. She gives him a smirk, and not just any smirk, but his own trademark one. The one he uses when he has bested someone. He flashes her a grin. "Fine. I've got better rum on my ship anyways."

As he walks over to Emma, some of the patrons in the bar begin to chuckle. "Yeah, run back to your woman, Hook. The captain title must clearly belong to her." This causes the rest of the bar to erupt into laughter. Emma walks out of the bar, ignoring it, and hoping that Hook will follow her lead.

A second later a man comes crashing through the window behind Emma. Hook quickly comes up beside her, placing his hand on the small of her back. "We might need to pick up the pace, love."

"You couldn't just leave it alone, could you?" Emma can't help but to grin.

"Pirate, darling." Hook returns Emma's grin, and they quickly begin making their way back to the ship.

* * *

**AN: **I hope you enjoyed the chapter! This is definitely a more action packed one. For those of you who are missing a little bit more of the tension and romance, I promise the next chapter will deliver! Also, if you know where I got the title from, I love you.

Thank you everyone who has followed, favorited, and posted reviews and comments! A huge thank you to Shama and Chelsea for reading over this chapter!


	6. Wounded

Chapter 6: Wounded

"So all of this was for a magic bean?" Emma tosses Hook the pouch once they have climbed aboard the ship. For the most part, their journey back was safe, but there were a couple of times when she and Hook had to lurk in the shadows together, while a group of drunken idiots passed by.

Hook catches the pouch, and looks inside, grinning. "I've been looking for this for awhile. Actually, I'm surprised Pete gave it to you. I figured he would have slipped in a fake."

Emma shrugs. "I asked him, and he told me that that's the bean you wanted."

Hook raises an eyebrow. "Just like that? It's not hard for a man to lie, lass."

Emma rolls her eyes and continues walking back in the direction that she believes to be Hook's room. "Someone clearly wasn't paying attention earlier. I can tell whenever someone is lying to me. Pete wasn't when he handed me the bean. I made sure."

"You were being serious?"

Emma turns around in time to see Hook looking at her skeptically. Emma sighs, "Yes. I've always had this skill. It comes in handy, especially when I was a bounty hunter."

Hook breaks out laughing. "Does bounty hunter mean the same in your world as it does here? I cannot picture you hunting down criminals?"

"Why is that so hard to believe?" Emma crosses her arms and huffs. This is a common reaction when she reveals what she does, or well did, for a living. It doesn't matter if she is chatting up someone in the grocery store or confronting a criminal. For some reason, she looks too pretty and delicate to do such a thing. It's probably because of the blonde hair.

He shrugs, walking up to her, placing his hand on the small of her back. He's been doing that a lot lately, mostly because Emma doesn't protest when he does it. It's a way to slip under her armor, even if it is just for a moment. "I pegged you as more of the princess type at first, but after that stint at the tavern, my mind is changing. I mean you caused quite a commotion in there. I was actually the well mannered one out of the two of us."

"I'm sorry, who was the one to throw a guy out of a window?" Emma shakes her head, laughing. "Lovely place, I'll tell my friends."

"I'm sure your recommendation means the world to them." Hook smiles and takes a step closer, using his hook to tilt her chin up. The sight of blood catches his eye, and he tilts Emma's head to the side. "You're bleeding." It comes out quietly, concern clearly evident in his voice.

Emma tries to step back, but Hook still has his hand on her back. "Yeah, crazy guy got me with some glass. It's nothing, Hook."

"Oh so it's Hook now?" He scowls and pulls away. Before Emma can say anything, Hook begins guiding her through the ship. "It's not nothing. You need to get that wound cleaned."

Emma quietly follows Hook. She isn't quite sure what to make of his comment about her calling him 'Hook.' That's his name, is it not? Well, okay Killian is his actual name, but as far as she knows, no one calls him Killian. Emma's internal debate distracts her, and so she doesn't really notice when they are back in his room. What snaps her out of her mind is the loss of heat from when Hook steps away from her. She can't really see anything right now, but then all of a sudden Hook is illuminated in the darkness thanks to the flickering flame of a candle. Emma finds herself watching Hook as he leans down to place the candle inside of a lantern. He continues to do this to three more lanterns, and it doesn't take long for the room to be bathed in light. Emma studies him in the light, scanning him over for more his injuries. They seem to appear as if by magic. His shirt is torn in a couple places, and when he turns to look at her, Emma can see that that is because someone nicked him with a sword. She glances up to see that Hook has also been looking her over for injuries, and judging by his expressions, she has a couple of her own. Apparently they had both been bloodied in the fight more than they realized.

"You're hurt." Emma slowly steps forward, now noticing the slight pain in her side when she moves. She winces involuntarily, but does her best to hide it.

"So are you, darling." He reaches out and takes her hand, helping her onto the bed. She tries to protest, but Hook stops her by waving her off with his hook. "Ladies first."

"Always the gentlemen." She smiles weakly as she slowly shrugs out of her jacket.

"Always the tone of surprise." Hook walks over to a drawer, and pulls out a bottle and some cloth.

Emma watches him carefully as he walks back over to her. He uses his hook to drag over a chair, and he sits down right in front of Emma, their knees touching.

"What's in the bottle?" Emma asks as she watches Hook use the liquid in the bottle to dampen one of the scraps of cloth.

"Rum. This is going to sting a bit." He presses the cloth against the cut on Emma's cheek gently, dabbing the cloth along the length of the cut.

Emma eyes never leave his face. They can't. She is memorized by the sight of the fearsome Captain Hook playing nurse. He doesn't just throw rum on her cuts, and say that's good enough, and he doesn't force her to do it herself. Instead he is taking care of her. No one has ever done that before. Anytime she was sick or injured, it was up to her to fix it. Even when she was with Neal, the closest he ever came for caring for her was when he would steal her some food and a car.

At the feeling of the rum and his hand on her arm, Emma jumps slightly. Hook pauses, afraid that he has hurt her in some way, but after a headshake from Emma, he continues cleaning the cut. His hand feels rough against her skin, but somehow that doesn't bother her too much. It's soothing.

His eyes are now looking into hers, and it crosses her mind that he said something.

"What do you prefer to be called?" Hook raises an eyebrow, asking for an explanation. "You made a comment about me calling you Hook. I figured that's what you wanted people to call you."

Hook smiles faintly, and runs his finger lightly along her cheek near her cut. Emma leans into his touch, enjoying the sensation. "Most people, yes, but you are not most people. Call me Killian, love."

"Okay, Killian." Emma smiles.

"Where else are you hurt?" His eyes begin glancing her over for visible traces of blood.

"I'm fine. You aren't." Emma motions to his shirt.

"Emma, I'm fine, but if this is your way to get me shirtless, how could I refuse?" He offers her a smirk before taking it off, revealing a couple shallow cuts.

"You've got me all figured out." Emma grabs the rum soaked cloth, and places it against the first cut on his chest. She tries her best to focus on the cut. Soak up the blood. Dab it softly. Emma repeats a list of instructions in her head, trying to keep herself occupied. Her eyes begin to scan Hook's chest, and apparently her sightseeing doesn't slip past Hook. He chuckles.

"Feel free to touch, pet. I promise I won't mind."

Emma rolls her eyes, and attempts to appear focused on her task of cleaning Hook's wounds. It works for a couple seconds before Hook takes her hand and places it on his chest. Her breath catches in her throat as his hand slowly slides down her arm.

They stay that way for what feels like forever. Emma struggles to breathe; her eyes haven't strayed from the sight of Hook's hand on her arm. "Emma." His breath is hot against her ear, and she jumps, earning a chuckle. The next thing she feels is the cool silver of his hook under her chin, bringing her gaze back up to his. He slowly leans in, giving Emma every chance to back out. When his lips press against hers, Emma melts. With a sigh, she opens her lips, letting his tongue slip in. Her fingers tangle in his hair, bringing him closer to her. A noise of approval comes from Hook's chest, and uses his hook to try to guide Emma onto his lap. Emma lets out a cry in pain, and her breathing becomes shallow for a reason other than the kiss.

"Emma, sweetheart, what's wrong?" Hook leans back, his eyes scanning Emma over. When he goes to move his hook away from her hip, Hook sees the blood. "Damnit, Swan."

"I'm fine." She tries to wave him away, but ends up cringing in pain.

"Liar. Now lie down." Hook helps her slowly lie down. The blood is soaking through most of her shirt. He scolds himself for somehow not noticing it earlier. Not wanting to waste time, he uses his hook to slice down the center of her shirt. Hook pauses for a moment, staring at Emma's lace bra.

"Glad to know I'm not the only one who gets dis-"

Hook smiles. "At least I can finish a sentence, pet." He turns his attention to her wound. It's a pretty good sized cut, and it needs to be bound up quickly. After a closer inspection, he realizes that there is a little shard of glass embedded in there. It's strange and a little annoying how something so small could cause this much damage. "Emma, darling, it's bad." Hook grabs the rum, and doses another cloth, placing it on Emma's wound. When Emma doesn't make any noise, he looks up.

"EMMA!"

* * *

**AN:**I am sorry for the wait! Thanksgiving ended up being more demanding than I thought. I spent two days basically in the car driving. I hope this chapter makes up for the delay! For those of you who figured out that the title of the last chapter was a Firefly reference, ya'll are awesome. There are two references in this chapter. Can you figure them out?

Someone either on the last chapter or the chapter before brought up how Emma hasn't mentioned Henry or Storybrooke recently. I am aware of this, and I plan on having it come in in the next chapter. There wasn't a good place to fit it in, if that makes sense. Henry and her recently discovered parents are definitely on Emma's mind, don't you worry.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, followed and favorited! A huge thank you to Chelsea for helping me out with this chapter!


	7. Crocodiles and Ogres

Chapter Seven: Crocodiles and Ogres

"Oi! You, watch the girl. Couldn't even bother to learn my name, could you Captain? It's Kevin! Not that hard to say. I've been on your ship for years, and I am bloody important! Far too important to sit here and watch some bombshell passed out on your bed. She isn't even naked! Fucking Captain Hook."

That's the first thing Emma hears when she wakes up: a pissed off, drunken sailor. His intoxicated ramblings momentarily distract Emma from the realization that once again she is waking up in Hook's bed with a hazy memory as to how she got there. What quickly becomes obvious is that her side is killing her. She makes the mistake of running her hands along her side until she finds the wound. Her pained cry alerts Kevin that she is awake.

He jumps up, spilling his mug of most likely beer on the desk. "Oh, shit! Damn, don't move!"

Emma raises an eyebrow at him, and fails at holding back a laugh as he stumbles on his feet, trying get out the door as soon as possible. "CAPTAIN!" His screech could wake the dead, and it is succeeding in giving her a massive headache.

Emma tries to sit up, and finds it to be more difficult than she expected. She plants her hands flat on the bed, and pushes up slowly. "Fuck!"

"Emma!" Hook barrels through the door. "You should be lying down." He turns to Kevin, who stumbles in after Hook. "I told you to make sure she doesn't move!"

"Sorry, Captain. I told her not to."

"What are you still doing here? Back to work!" He waves Kevin off with his hook, and once Kevin leaves, Hook sits on the edge of the bed. "How are you feeling, sweetheart?" His voice goes back down to a lower octave, coming out almost husky.

"I'm better now that the drunken pirate is gone. I would have someone clean your table by the way. He spilled something on it." Emma offers a smile, before trying to sit up again.

"Swan," Hook warns as he places a hand on her shoulder.

"Hook," she mimics his tone, and is greeted by what most people would refer to as a 'bitch please' look from him. "If you think I am just going to lie here helplessly, you are out of your damn mind. At least let me sit up, and then I promise not to move or try to get out of bed. Now what exactly happened?"

Hook sighs and gently helps Emma sit up. "You had some glass in your side, and you decided to keep that to yourself."

"I didn't know I had been hurt. Must have been from when the crazy guy dropped the mug." Emma pulls the blanket around her waist, shielding herself from the cool air. "Do you want to explain to my why once again I am wearing your clothes in your bed?"

Hook smirks, and leans forward, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "I had to get a good look at the wound, pet. Your shirt didn't make it. Plus, it's not like you weren't going to end up naked in my bed anyway, especially after that kiss."

Emma pulls the blanket up closer. "Clearly what happened was due to massive blood loss. It seems to have messed with my sense of judgment."

"You wanted me, lass. Don't try to pretend otherwise." His begins trailing his hook along the contours of Emma's legs. He continues to do this for another minute, enjoying watching Emma involuntarily shudder, her eyes following the motions of his hook.

"Who's Henry?" He doesn't ask it in an accusatory manor, but merely states it in a quiet voice.

"How do you know his name?" Emma's eyes snap up to Hook's. Her mind races as she tries to remember if she had mentioned Henry to him. She made a decision early on to keep what matters to her close, and Henry is the one thing that matters most to her in the world. If her life has taught her anything it is that people will screw you over. Don't let them know where they can hurt you the most because they will use that against you in a heartbeat. Despite his moniker's reputation, Killian hasn't done anything to suggest that Emma can't trust him. Then again, she has fallen for this act before.

"You kept mentioning him in your sleep. Should I be concerned that you are dreaming of another man instead of me?" His trademark smirk is back in place, but at the sight of Emma's reaction, it disappears. In its place is his nicer, warmer smile. The one that lets you believe that you can tell him anything, and the world won't come crashing down around you. "He's important to you, isn't he?"

Emma sighs before nodding. "He's my son. He would actually love all of this." She smiles as she motions to the ship and to Hook.

"Ah, so he's heard of me?" Hook grins, feeling a sense of pride at the validation of a boy he's never met.

"Try not to get too cocky, if that is even possible. Henry's the one who dragged me out of my life, telling me a story about how fairytale characters were real, but they didn't know it. The Evil Queen, who just happened to be the woman who adopted him, placed a curse on them all, which sent them to live in Storybrooke without any memory of who they really are. Operation Cobra is what he called the mission to break the curse. We had walkie talkies and everything." It seems like so long ago that she was sitting in the car, driving Henry back home as he began filling her in on his magic book of fairytales. Things were strange back then, that's for sure, but things were also a hell of a lot simpler when fairytales were just stories.

Hook cocks his head to the side, looking confused. "What does cobra have to do with fairytale characters? Also, are walking and talking at the same time a rare skill in your world or something?"

Emma bursts out laughing, and Hook finds himself enjoying the sight of it. She looks downright happy to be with him in that brief moment, and it isn't because of his innuendo or other means of charm. It is simply because of him. He figures that she is somehow making fun of him, but it doesn't matter. "Am I missing something?"

"I'm sorry. I just forgot about the differences for a second." Emma grins. "Walkie talkies are hand held radios." She pauses, waiting for the light bulb to go off for Hook, but it doesn't, forcing Emma to continue. "Basically they are a way for him and me to talk even when we are far away from each other. Nowadays we have phones for that, but they don't give off the same secret mission vibe as walkie talkies. Also, I'm sure Henry picked the name Operation Cobra because it sounded badass."

"Still, he could have gone with something more fitting. Operation Crocodile is what we could call the mission to getting to Storybrooke."

Emma raises an eyebrow. "Crocodile? Okay, well that suits your needs more than mine."

"Emma, darling, if you want me to attend to your needs, all you have to do is ask." He offers a devilishly charming grin as he places his hand on her leg.

She groans in frustration. "Here I was thinking you were concerned about my safety. After all, weren't you the one who was afraid that I would injure myself simply by sitting up?"

"Sweetheart, I can be gentle." He says in a low, throaty voice. His hand begins to massage Emma's thigh through the blanket.

Emma rolls her eyes, and waits for Hook to snap back into civil Hook. It's hard to tell the difference seeing as Hook reeks of sexual charm and innuendo all the time, but when he is being civil, he can mostly make it through a conversation without sending electricity and heat through the other person's body. Emma chooses to believe he does that to everyone. It's a lot safer for her that way.

He continues to massage her thigh, moving up and down, not caring in the slightest that Emma hasn't spoken in over a minute and that she seems to be intent on ignoring him until he stops.

Emma's never been more thankful for a blanket in her entire life. She finally grows impatient with waiting for Hook to stop, and so she pushes his hand off. Okay, so it isn't really more impatience as it is that if Hook kept doing that with his hand, Emma was going to melt, and this time she would not be able to blame it on blood loss, although post traumatic stress might be believable enough to work.

"What I meant was that Operation Crocodile highlights why you want to go back to Storybrooke. It doesn't fit my motives."

Hook lets out an exasperated sigh as if he was a five year old being denied his favorite toy. "You said all the lad would care about was that it was, as you put it, badass. Does Operation Crocodile not fit the bill?"

"How about Operation Ogre? It suits you more." Emma grins, quite pleased with herself for coming up with that retort.

"You wouldn't want to kiss an ogre, pet." He says in a serious tone.

"Never said I did." Emma matches his tone, but quirks up her eyebrow slightly in a teasing manner, which earns her a smile from him. "So what's next?"

Now it's Hook's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Next?"

"For Operation Crocodile."

"Ah yes, well you, my dear, are injured. Thankfully our journey will take a couple days, which means all you need to do is rest."

"Journey where?" Emma watches him closely.

Hook brings his hand up to his heart, acting offended. "Miss Swan, do you really think I would lie to you?"

"Pirate." Emma states blankly.

He grins. "Through and through, but at the heart of every pirate is a good man. I'll get you home to your son, I promise you that."

Emma searches his face for any signs of deception and finds none. This should make Emma feel more comfortable, but instead it has the opposite effect. She couldn't recognize Neal's lies to her before, and she ended up going to jail because of it. This time Emma is going to be extra careful. It's not just her heart on the line. It's Henry too. She will get back to him no matter what. "Then tell me where we are going."

"You really need to work on this new thing called trust, darling." Hook sighs before continuing, "Unfortunately, the journey back to Storybrooke isn't an easy one. There are certain things you have to get in order to make it back there. We are going to find one of those things. I will gladly explain more later, but I should get back to steering the ship. As you saw, my crew has been enjoying the finer things in life while at port, and so they are not back in tip top shape just yet."

"Fine, but this isn't over, Hook." She gives him her best stern look.

"You would be far more terrifying, Swan, if you weren't lying in my bed injured and wearing nothing but my shirt." He smiles as he stands up. "Try to rest. Oh, and if you feel well enough to come stumbling around the ship, you can find clothes in the dresser." He uses his hook to motion over to the side of his room. "Don't worry. You won't have to wear my clothes. I went into town and bought something just for you." With that, he gives her a wink as he walks out the door, leaving Emma gaping.

Suddenly, bed rest sounds like the best course of action.

* * *

**AN: **Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, followed and favorited! It means so much to me, and I love reading all of your comments! A huge thank you to Chelsea and Shama for helping me out with this chapter! I hope all of ya'll liked it!

Also some of ya'll guessed the references correctly! There was a Harry Potter and a Firefly reference in the last chapter!


	8. Dressing the Part

Chapter 8: Dressing the Part

Emma holds out a lot longer than he thought she would. He figured that she would hide out in his room for a day at the most before caving to the need for food or just human interaction. Day two of Emma's hiding is almost coming to an end when she stumbles into the mess hall. It doesn't take long for everyone to become aware of her presence. After all she is the only woman on board, and she's wearing the outfit Hook bought her.

Hook looks up from his card game as the dining hall erupts in whistles and cat calls. He can't help but grin as he sees Emma, and he leans back in his chair to get a better look at her. Normally he doesn't shop for anyone but himself, and certainly not for a woman, but the thought of getting to choose what Emma would be wearing made him change his mind. It's hard to beat seeing someone naked, but Emma once again shows that she looks good in just about anything.

Her eyes find him and Hook can see the anger radiating off of her. "HOOK!"

He doesn't even try to hold back his grin. "Well, well, lads look who finally decided to grace us with her presence. Doesn't she look ravishing?" There's no doubt about it. Emma looks downright sinful. The red corset he picked out is doing wonders for breasts, making it impossible for anyone not to be drawn to them. Unfortunately, the view is slightly obstructed by a long, black coat – wait a minute, that's his coat. Well, at least it shows she has taste, although the whole point of the outfit is to show her off, not to have her cover herself up more. Her hair is also proving to be an obstacle from the glorious view. It's trapped within the confines of the high collar of his coat, leaving it no choice but to fall straight down, covering the tops of her breasts.

As Emma approaches his table, Hook brings both arms behind his head as he takes long, lingering look at her, scanning her from top to bottom, making sure to take the time to appreciate every inch of her. He doesn't hide it either, causing Emma to cross her arms in an attempt to cover up, but it does quite the opposite, giving her breasts a bit of a boost. "I see you found the outfit I bought you." At the sight of Emma scowling, Hook smirks. "You know most women would say thank you."

"Thank you Killian for purchasing a nearly impossible outfit to put on. In a couple days when I'm no longer sore and all healed, I will really show you my appreciation when I slam my fist into your jaw." Emma spots an open seat nearby, and with a scowl she takes it. Within a matter of seconds, Emma feels herself being dragged over next to Hook.

"Don't make promises you can't keep, princess." Hook's eyes travel down to Emma's side, and he reaches out to gingerly run his fingers along the spot where she was injured. "How are you feeling, Emma?"

"Hungry." She fidgets in her seat, trying to ignore the sparks that she feels when Hook touches her. "Do pirates actually eat or do you live off of rum?"

Almost instantly, food appears in front of her. Not just one plate but four, and four flustered pirates are now standing around her babbling about whatever is on their plate. She manages a quick glance over at Hook, and suddenly decides that punching him may not be the best way to show her thanks.

Emma flashes her best smile at the men. "You are too kind."

Hook freezes as he watches Emma slowly shrug out of his coat. His eyes follow Emma's hand as she brushes her hair behind her shoulder, giving the entire room a bloody good look at her breasts. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees one guy placing his hand on Emma's, and Hook feels the need to throw him overboard. Usually he doesn't have to fight for the attention of a woman that is something that other men do, especially if he is in the room. Killian Jones does not get jealous, and he certainly doesn't have to fight off his crew for an ordinary woman. Emma Swan is far from ordinary, that's for sure.

"EVERYONE OUT!" His voice resonates through the room. Instantly everyone dashes towards the door. Normally he is nicer with his crew, but not in this moment, not when Emma is practically stripping in front of his men.

As soon as the room is clear, he captures Emma's mouth with his in a rough kiss, trying to brand her as his. Emma gasps before reciprocating, and Hook takes this as an invitation to slip his tongue in her mouth, battling hers for dominance. His fingers tangle in her hair as he brings her closer to him. After a minute or two, Emma breaks the kiss, desperate for air. Hook begins to kiss and nibble at her jaw, making his way slowly down to the base of her neck.

"Killian." Her voice comes out breathy, giving Hook no other choice but to go back for another kiss, desperate to make her say his name like that again. Emma places a hand on his arm, "Killian, unless you want me to pass out, I need to take a break for food."

"Well we wouldn't want that, now would we?" He pulls back, sliding one of the many plates in front of her. "Should I take offense to the fact that you have a tendency to pass out after I kiss you or is that just a sign of how good of a kisser I am?" He gives her a wink, trying to act flirtatious instead of simply frustrated. One of these days he will get further than a kiss, and he'd like it to be one day soon.

Emma scoffs and begins to remove her hand from his arm. Hook tenses as he feels Emma outline the heart on his arm – Milah's heart. It's not that he had forgotten about Milah because that is downright impossible, even after all these years. She is the motivation behind his hunt for the crocodile. Avenging her death will assure him that he deserved her. He didn't just let her be taken like the crocodile did when Milah chose to be a pirate over a mom. No, Hook fights for what he wants, and he will not let Milah's death be something he doesn't avenge. In that moment, there was nothing he could do. Milah fell to the ground too quickly. In that moment, Hook was a coward. He's not anymore.

"What did he do to her?"

Hook glances up to see Emma peering into eyes. "You need to eat, pet."

"Look, eating." She makes a show of taking a bite. "What did Mr. Gold, I mean your crocodile, do to Milah?"

"He took her heart," Hook takes a swig of rum before continuing, "and he crushed it."

He glances over at Emma and sees that she is focused on her food. She isn't eating it, just pushing it around on the plate. "I'm sorry. I know what it's like, I think."

Now it is his turn to scoff. "Oh please tell me how you know, princess."

Her head snaps up, and she glares at him. "When I first came to Storybrooke I was getting close to Graham, the wolf I mentioned earlier. One day, we were in the Sheriff's office. I had gotten into a fight with Regina earlier, and I was injured, and he was fixing me up." Emma pauses, and snatches the rum from Hook's hands, downing a good bit of it. "We kissed and then he was saying how he remembered. I didn't know what he was talking about at the time, or well I didn't believe Henry's stories about the curse then. Graham leaned in for another kiss, but the next thing I knew, he was doubled over and falling to the floor, and then he was gone. Henry told me that Regina must have crushed his heart."

While she may have started off angry, by the end of her story, Emma is on the verge of tears. Hook leans forward and plants a kiss on her temple. "Aye, love, the lad was right. It sounds like Regina had his heart."

"It is easier to think that a heart attack killed him because if it was Regina, then I should have done something to stop her, to save him." Emma slowly eats another bite as tears trickle down her face.

"Emma, look at me." He uses his hook to tilt her face towards his. "There was nothing you could have done."

"The same goes for you." She smiles.

"That may be. I can still get my vengeance though. That I can do." Hook pushes another plate in front of Emma. "You need your strength. Eat some more"

"As if I didn't have enough trouble getting into this damn corset," she mutters as she works on the next plate.

He grins as he lightly runs his hook along the top of her corset. "Did I mention how gorgeous you look in this?" He nibbles on her ear, enjoying watching her jump at the contact.

"I thought you wanted me to eat?" She whispers, not trusting herself to attempt to speak at a normal decibel. It was hard enough to breathe, and she really doesn't want to give Hook the satisfaction of knowing that he is making her lose her breath.

"Oh I can multitask, sweetheart." With his good hand, he picks up her fork, and brings it to her lips.

Emma stares at the fork in front of her, debating whether or not to play along. "Come on, Emma, open up." He begins slowly moving the fork in front of her, which reminds Emma of a parent trying to get a young child to eat by playing airplane with the fork. She laughs before complying, her eyes on his as she slowly takes the fork in her mouth.

"Good girl." His manages to say after Emma finishes off the food on the fork. She goes from being shy to a vixen faster than anyone he has ever met, and bloody hell it drives him insane. The way her eyes sparkle, he knows she is aware of what she is doing. As he brings another fork up to her lips, he moves his hook down between her breasts, and then over to the outside of the corset, intent on stripping it off of her.

Emma realizes what he is about to do, and reaches out and places her hand on his hook. "You have this terrible tendency of destroying all of my clothes."

"I'm failing to see what's so terrible about that, darling." He flashes her a smile.

"I would like to have clothes to wear, even if what I am wearing now doesn't really count."

"Oi! What's wrong with this? You've got a shirt and pants on. You are clothed."

"Ok, yes, you provided me with pants that actually cover all of my legs, so thank you for that, but this," Emma motions to the corset, "not actual clothing. You shouldn't expect me to go out in public like this, at least not without this coat."

He smirks and opens his mouth to say something when one of his crew members walks back into the mess hall. "Captain, the water is getting rough out there."

Hook sighs before standing up, motioning that he will be right up in a second. "You should finish eating and head back to bed."

Emma slides on his coat, and stands up as well. "I've spent the past two days in a room by myself with nothing but the pain in my side keeping me company. I'll come with you."

"Emma, darling, if you missed me all you had to do was come find me." He slides his hand onto the small of her back as he guides them out the door.

She scoffs as she pulls the coat closer around her, trying to protect herself from the cold night air that hits her as they make their way up to the deck. "I figured you had to sleep sometime, and so you would be back at night."

A grin breaks out across his face at Emma's confession that she thought he would be in bed with her. At the sight, Emma starts to backtrack, "Wait, no I didn't mean like that."

"I didn't realize how bad you wanted to sleep with me, Swan. Alas, I was looking forward to cozying up to you as well, but a storm hit and I had to focus on other things." He leans in and gives her a kiss on the shell of her ear. "I'll be expecting my coat back soon, pet. Don't get too attached."

Emma is about to retort when Hook steps away from her, walking over to take control of the wheel. He can feel her eyes on him, which normally wouldn't be a bad thing, but it is making it hard to concentrate. "We are only a day's journey out." He yells over to her.

"Out where?" She walks up next to him, careful not to stand too close as to get in his way. It's harder than it seems, not being in the way, especially since every member of the crew also seems to be on deck.

"Do you see the lights up ahead, down by the edge of the horizon?" His eyes flicker over to hers.

"Yeah."

"We are going to an island just beyond that."

Emma is about to reply when she collides with Kevin. Hook laughs, "Oi! Kevin! Why don't you take Miss Swan back down to my quarters? Things are going to get rough out here, and she doesn't quite have her sea legs yet."

He manages to watch Emma stumble her way out before the sea draws his focus back to her, apparently he can't please every mistress.

* * *

**AN**: I apologize for the delay! I've had a migraine for the past week, so I have been avoiding the computer and lying down in the dark. It's been great. I'm going to do my best to have another chapter up this week because I'm going on a road trip for the holidays, and so I will be without a computer for around a week.

Another story related comment, I had someone comment on whether or not Hook is working with Cora in my story. No, he's not. Cora doesn't really fit into my story. I doubt she will appear at all.

Thank you to everyone who is following, making this one of your favorites and reviewing! A huge thank you to Chelsea for reading over this chapter!


	9. Through the Woods

Chapter 9: Through the woods

"I don't know why you are complaining about having to stop off to get me a coat," Emma states as Hook docks the ship. Most of the crew left the ship at the last island, the one where Hook bought Emma's coat, so Hook is scrambling around doing a bit more of the ship work. Okay, so Hook doesn't really scramble. He seems to be perfectly at ease even though being down a good bit of his crew means that he has to do more than just steer the ship. Emma can't remember the name of the island. She can barely remember the geography of her own world. All she knows is that the island is a big port city, unlike the island they are presently at, and as many of the crew as possible asked the captain if they could spent a couple days there, something about being out of rum and a comment about not sharing Emma, which she is dead set on ignoring. However, watching Hook get upset about the implication that she is to be shared was pretty exciting and hot, not that Emma would ever admit that.

"Because you didn't need one! I swear, women are all the same when it comes to clothes. You lot can never have enough." Hook grumbles.

"Is this why you wouldn't go out and buy me an actual shirt?" Emma crosses her arms. She had pleaded for more proper clothing, but Hook made it sound like going to shore just for a jacket was a big enough sacrifice for him. What surprises Emma even more is that the jacket Hook bought her actually fits. She never really pegged Captain Hook as someone who would go out and buy clothes for a woman and manage to figure out what size she is.

"You don't need an actual shirt. Plus, why would I want to deprive myself of such a breathtaking view?" His eyes stray south to her chest, and Emma sighs.

"That explains your choice in a coat." Emma mutters. There's nothing terribly wrong with this jacket. It's long enough, sleeve wise and fits her snugly, ending right above her waist. What really screams "Captain Hook picked this out" about the jacket is the fact the jacket doesn't cover her chest. Sure, Emma can button it, but the buttons start right below her bust, giving Hook a nice view of her breasts.

"May I say, you look ravishing in it." He gives her a wolfish grin, licking his lips as he takes in the sight. "I would still prefer you not to be wearing it, but alas, this will have to do."

"Did you or did you not say that we would be trapezing through some island for God knows how many days? The corset won't protect me from the cold."

"Emma, love, I will gladly protect you from the cold." Hook drapes his arms around her, his lips planting kisses along the shell of her ear.

"That's right, always the gentleman." Emma smiles as she leans into him.

"Well, not always." He says in a low voice that sends shivers down Emma's spine.

"Have you ever used a sword, Emma?" He states matter of factly as he steps away from Emma, walking over to grab a sword for her.

"Why, are you not sure how to use yours?" Emma smirks, enjoying watching his eyes widen at her not so subtle comment.

"Playing with fire, Swan." He warns as he holds out a sword to her. As she places her hand over his, he brings it up to his lips, kissing it chastely.

"Didn't answer my question, Hook." She mimics before taking the sword from him and removing her hand from his grasp. "I've used one once. It seemed to go okay."

"Why does that not reassure me?" He sighs, "The pointy end goes into the bad guy."

"Gee thanks." She mutters as she works on holstering her sword. Is it even called holstering? "So why do I need a sword? You never clued me in on how dangerous Operation Crocodile was going to be."

"Come on, Swan, where is your sense of adventure? You seemed to enjoy the danger during the bar fight." With that, his hand goes to the small of her back, guiding her off the ship.

"Fighting drunks I can handle. For some reason I'm thinking that this island isn't populated by drunks." It's a little disconcerting at how comfortable he is getting at placing his hand on her back, and what's even worse is how much she is coming to expect and even enjoy it. Emma Swan is not one for easily falling into familiar romantic patterns, not that this is what that is. There's really only been one in her life, and to say that that relationship didn't end well is putting it mildly. The truth is that if Neal ever reappeared in her life, Emma's first instinct would be to punch him. Yes she loved him, but that feeling is nothing more than a distant memory.

"SWAN! Are you even listening to me?" Emma shakes her head, and tries to bring herself out of the past to focus on Hook. Sometime during her trip down memory lane, she and Hook have entered a forest.

"When did we get into a forest?" There is something off about this forest. Maybe all fairytale forests give a slightly creepy vibe. She doesn't really find herself in a lot of forests, fairytale or otherwise.

Hook mutters something that sounds a lot like "fucking Swan" under his breath. "Just stay by me, alright?"

"For protection?" Emma grins.

"Don't try to distract me with your ways, Miss Swan. The forest is not a safe place. Plus the pixies could be anywhere." Hook states as he moves closer to Emma, their shoulders brushing up against one another as they walk.

"Wait, pixies? What pixies? You mean like little tiny balls of light pixies? Clap your hands if you believe sort of thing?"

Hook cocks his head to the side, trying to gauge how serious Emma is as she continues to ramble on about pixies. "Listen, pet. I don't know what you know about pixies or why clapping is involved, but they aren't to be trusted, especially not the ones we are looking for. Pixies are a dangerous lot, and this particular group of pixies is dangerous even by pixie standards."

"There is a pixie standard for dangerous?" Emma tries to suppress her laugh and fails. At Hook's expression, she continues, "Sorry but in my world, pixies aren't really portrayed as something to fear. They are more like little tiny helpful creatures or what sluts want to dress up as for Halloween."

"What are you talk–, you know what? Nevermind. The point is, keep your eyes sharp."

"Aye, aye, Captain." Emma salutes, mocking him just a bit, but nevertheless, she begins to take a closer look at her surroundings. "So why are we meeting up with dangerous pixies?"

"For Operation Crocodile, of course. They might be able to help us get to your world."

"Of course, silly me." Suddenly Operation Crocodile is sounding more and more ridiculous, and Emma didn't think that is possible considering what all she went through during Operation Cobra.

x.X.x.X.x

"Come on, princess. Pick up the pace!" Hook yells behind him, coming to a stop to allow Emma to catch up. They've been walking for quite a while now, and the walk is beginning to take its toll on Emma and Hook's patience.

"We could stop you know. I hear that's allowed." Emma grumbles.

"Look, I've stopped. Now would you hurry up!?" When she approaches, he turns around, and presses Emma up against the closest tree. "So what should we do during this break?" He leans down and brushes his lips against hers, and as soon as Emma makes the move to capture his lips with hers, he grinds his hips against her.

"What happened to the forest is a dangerous place and keeping a watchful eye?" Emma manages to say after she catches her breath from the kiss. Despite her sarcastic protests, she is glad for the break, and well, for the kiss – not that she would ever publicly say that, although she's sure he has picked up on her agreement based on her whimpers.

"I'm keeping a watchful eye on you, and you should do the same to me." Hook murmurs in her ear before gently nipping at her earlobe. If there is one thing Emma has learned about him, it's that he can make her knees buckle just by placing his lips on her ear. It's probably why he does it so much.

"So all you want me to do to you is watch you? I guess I can do that. I thought you would want me to do more." Emma smirks.

Hook groans as he leans his head against her neck, his lips skimping the flesh where her neck meets her collarbone. "I don't remember you being this much of a tease."

"I guess you've rubbed off on me." With that, Emma rolls her hips against his, enjoying hearing his sharp intake of breath.

"Two can play this game, princess." Slowly, Hook kisses his way down from Emma's collarbone to the tops of her breasts, taking his time to kiss, suck and lick any exposed flesh there he can find. His good hand trails down Emma's thigh, lifting up her leg, urging her to wrap it around his waist. She complies quickly, wrapping both of her legs around him. Her fingers tangle in his hair.

A rustling sound behind Hook captures Emma's attention. "What was that?"

"You mean this?" Hook thrusts his hips up against hers, eliciting a moan out of Emma.

Emma focuses her attention back on him, biting his lower lip before kissing her way down his neck. Something out of the corner of her eye forces her to stop. "Killian," she whispers.

"Swan, you are killing me." Hook groans.

"Killian, I think the tree just moved. Can trees do that?" Judging by the way he tenses, Emma thinks moving trees is not so out of the ordinary here. She feels him slowly walk backwards; carrying her away from the tree they were previously pressed up against.

"Emma, love, run. There should be a clearing up in the direction we were headed. Go there." He whispers in her ear, kissing her earlobe lightly before gently unwrapping her legs from his waist.

"Killian, I don't run from a fight. Let's do this." She says as she straightens up, her feet on the ground now. Her hands go to her sword, unsheathing it.

"Aye, aye, princess." He grins.

Emma focuses her attention back on the trees, and that is when she really sees it: the trees are surrounding them. She grips her sword tighter, raising it up slowly.

"Watch out for the vines." Hook warns.

"What vi–" Emma jumps to the side as a vine snaps out, trying to knock Emma on her back. In retaliation, she lunges forward, swinging her sword down trying to chop off the vine. She doesn't even really have time to watch out for Hook. Occasionally she can feel him near her, but most of her attention is spent dodging trees. She manages to chop off a couple vines, which angers the trees mostly. One of them manages to snake a vine around her ankle, hoisting her up into the air. "KILLIAN!"

Emma frantically tries to swing her sword upwards in an attempt to free herself, but soon the world just starts spinning. This is probably due to the tree waving her around like a piñata. She closes her eyes, hoping it will make the nausea stop, but she keeps swinging her sword. Finally she hits something.

"Ow! Bloody hell woman, I'm trying to help you!" Hook exclaims after catching an elbow to the face.

Her eyes snap open right as Hook manages to cut her down. She quickly scrambles to her feet, her eyes adjusting to being right side up again. As soon as she gathers her bearings, Hook pushes her in the direction of the clearing.

"I'll be right behind you, now run!"

For once, Emma Swan does what she is told. She takes off running, glancing behind her every so often to make sure that Hook is following her and that she isn't being chased by psycho trees. Emma just makes it into the clearing when she is essentially tackled from the side. She falls to the ground, her attacker tumbling down on top of her. Emma manages to get in a punch, and she starts to deliver another when she recognizes the exclamation of pain that comes out of her attacker.

"MARY MARGARET?!"

At the sound of her name, her attacker's head snaps to face Emma. "Emma?" Mary Margaret says in disbelief, and then proceeds to tackle Emma further to the ground in an embrace. Emma wraps her arms around Mary Margaret, her eyes tearing up at the sight of a familiar face. She doesn't even notice the sound of footsteps approaching.

"Let. Her. Go." Hook states in a dangerously calm voice.

In an instant, Mary Margaret has moved into fighting stance, a bow and arrow at the ready.

"Where did you get that?" Emma asks Mary Margaret, referring to her bow and arrow. This standoff with Hook is more important apparently, seeing how Mary Margaret makes no move to answer, her attention focused solely on Hook.

"Okay, let's just everyone put down their weapons." Emma says calmly, trying to move between her mother and Hook. However, her mother moves to stand in front of Emma.

"Emma, stay behind me. He's dangerous."

At the sound of the stranger calling Emma by her name, Hook raises an eyebrow. "You know this lass, Swan?"

"That's Snow White to you, Captain." Mary Margaret spits out.

"Ah, so you've heard of me? It's an honor to meet you, your majesty." Hook sheaths his sword and gives Snow a bow.

Emma doesn't even try to suppress the eye roll. "Mary Margaret, it's fine. He's with me."

"He's _what_? Emma that is Captain Hook!" Mary Margaret turns to face her daughter, keeping her bow trained on Hook.

"He's fine." Emma shrugs, hoping that she won't have to go into any more detail than that. Explaining her relationship to him is not something that sounds like fun at the moment.

"Sweetheart, I know this world is new to you, but listen to me, you cannot trust him. Wait, why are you even with him?" Disbelief rings through Mary Margaret's warning.

"For Operation Crocodile, of course." Hook states simply.

"Operation what?"

Emma sighs, and right before she can answer, Mary Margaret continues. "Wait, didn't Henry have something like that for breaking the curse?"

"Operation Cobra. Smart lad, that one. Operation Crocodile is what Emma and I call the mission to get back to Storybrooke." Hook continues, enjoying the look of shock that is on Mary Margaret's face. He saunters over to Emma, ignoring the fact that Mary Margaret is still following his movements with her bow. He reaches out and brushes her hair out of her face. "You alright, Emma?"

"Hands off my daughter, Hook."

"Your daughter?" A look of genuine surprise appears on his face. "So you really are a princess! Princess Emma. It's got a nice ring to it, don't you think?" He begins laughing but is cut off when Emma punches him in the jaw. "Oi! Watch the face, love. I know how much you like it."

"Shut up, Killian." Emma says, smiling slightly.

"Wait, _Killian_? You call him Killian? What exactly is going on here, Emma?" Mary Margaret lowers her bow, giving Emma a pointed look.

"Enough about me, why are you here? Last time I checked, I fell through the portal alone."

"I couldn't just let you come here by yourself, so I jumped in after you. I was surprised when I woke up and you weren't next to me. I thought you must have run off to another part of the island. I've been looking everywhere for you." Mary Margaret tears up, and wraps Emma in another hug.

Emma complies with the hug. It's still a little strange for her – having a family. Sure Henry had told her who her parents were awhile ago, but she didn't believe him. When the curse broke and David and Mary Margaret went from acting like friends to acting like parents, well it was strange. After a couple seconds, Emma pulls away. "I didn't land here when I came through the portal. I ended up on Killian's ship."

"Well technically, you ended up in the ocean near my ship. I had to rescue you and everything." He states, as if it was a giant hassle to save her.

Emma scoffs. "For the last time, your crew saved me, not you."

"They were acting on my orders!"

"But they were the ones to physically pull me out of the water." Emma counters.

"But I'm the one who put you to bed and got you out of those wet clothes." His eyes trail up and down Emma's body, remembering the glorious sight of her naked in his bed. When he reaches Emma's eyes, he gives her a wink.

"He did _what_?" Emma and Hook jump slightly at the sound of a shocked Mary Margaret, both sort of forgetting that they have an audience.

"Well what kind of gentleman would I be if I left her alone, soaking wet and unconscious with my crew?" Hook grins, clearly enjoying making Emma and her mother feel uncomfortable.

"Do you want to get punched again?" Emma glares.

"I'm simply trying to clue your mother in on what happened, Emma. She has a lot of questions." He says innocently.

"I do have questions, but I would prefer if my _daughter_ answered them." Mary Margaret glowers at Hook before turning to face Emma. "So, what exactly has been going on, Emma?"

"Nothing, nothing. So you've been here by yourself all this time?" Emma asks, trying to ignore the smug look on Hook's face.

"No, she hasn't." A new voice states from behind them.

* * *

**AN: **I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'm sorry the delay. I'm sure you aren't interested in hearing my excuses. What you need to know is that I have not abandoned this fic!

To everyone who has favorited, followed and reviewed - I love you! I thoroughly enjoy reading all of your comments and freak outs! A huge thank you to Chelsea for reading this over for me!


	10. Catching Up

Ch. 10: Catching Up

_"Nothing, nothing. So you've been here by yourself all this time?" Emma asks, trying to ignore the smug look on Hook's face._

_"No, she hasn't."_

"Bloody hell, is that you Tinkerbell?" Hook asks in shock.

Emma follows Hook's line of sight to see a woman, assumedly Tinkerbell, but she does not look anything like the Tinkerbell that Emma grew up hearing about in fairytales. She's small for a human, but not abnormally small or anything – petite is a better word. Her blonde hair is cropped short, and her outfit makes her look like a forest gladiator. Oh, and she looks severely pissed off, and she's not alone. Behind her stand around ten other people, all with weapons trained on Hook.

"Hook" That's all Tinkerbell says. One word, carrying more venom than Emma could ever imagine a pixie possessing.

Emma's eyes cut back to Hook's as she tries to gauge how to react. Mary Margaret doesn't seem all that affected by the pixies, but then again, she doesn't really seem the biggest fan of Hook's either. Emma, on the other hand, doesn't want to see Hook strung up and quartered by a bunch of pixies – for Operation Crocodile's sake, of course. He has saved her life a couple times now, making Emma indebted to him, so to speak. Plus, he is her best chance at getting back to Henry. Her desire to keep him alive is strictly professional, sort of.

"Long time." He states simply.

"Yes."

Emma groans. "Okay, wow y'all are quite the conversationalists. Now maybe it's just me, but I don't like talking with a bunch of weapons pointed in my direction, so maybe could we lower them and then figure out what the fuck is going on here?" Emma gives everyone her best 'don't fucking mess with me' look.

"Emma," Mary Margaret warns.

"This is your daughter?" Tinkerbell asks with a slight hint of judgment ringing through her voice.

"Yes, Tink. This is Emma. Emma, sweetheart, this is Tinkerbell." Mary Margaret smiles warmly, before continuing in a more serious voice, "You can trust her."

"I don't give out my trust easily. It has to be earned." Emma snaps.

Mary Margaret falters slightly, not used to hearing Emma talk to her that way, but Tinkerbell, on the other hand, grins widely. "I like you."

"Why wouldn't you? She's a delight." Hook offers, with only a bit of sarcasm.

"Can we do something about the weapons, please, or do I have to clap my hands?" Emma grumbles, and Mary Margaret tries to fight back a laugh.

"What is it with you and clapping?" Hook says as he gives Emma an amused look.

Emma refuses to answer; instead she glares at the pixies until they comply with lowering their weapons. "Thank you, now I don't know what brings you out into the clearing, but we were just attacked by weird trees. I would prefer to move far away from them, and not have long conversations just standing around in a meadow."

Mary Margaret glances back at Tinkerbell who simply nods. She turns back to her daughter and smiles. "Camp is back this way."

Hook steps up, his hand going to its normal spot on Emma's back. "Right then, lead on."

At the sight, Mary Margaret tenses. "Actually I would like to get a chance to catch up with my daughter, alone."

He glances over at Emma, trying to gauge her comfort level. She simply nods. He smiles, planting a kiss on Emma's temple before leaning in to whisper into her ear. "You can't trust the pixies."

"Aye, aye captain." She gives him a sincere smile before walking over next to Mary Margaret.

x.X.x.X.x

He can't keep his eyes off of Emma and her mother, her highness Snow White – fucking Princess Swan. He grins at the thought of Emma being a princess, being forced to prance around in giant ballroom gowns. He prefers her like she is now – in a corset and leather with a sword strapped to her side. She's more pirate than princess, and he has more than a shot this way. He loves a challenge, but a pirate and a princess is more of a joke than something even he could pull off.

"Never thought I would see you again."

Tinkerbell's _lovely_ voice draws Hook out of his musings. At some point, she started walking beside him. At least this means she's not near Emma. "Did you miss me Tink?"

She stiffens slightly before resuming her act of nonchalance. Her slip up doesn't go unnoticed. "Ah, still holding a grudge, I see. I thought you said that was my thing."

"It is, as is bedding anything with breasts." She snaps back.

He gives her a low chuckle. "Come on, Tink, you know I have higher standards than that, otherwise I would have slept with you."

"Ah, well that explains why you are with Emma. Bedding a princess has never been accessible until now."

Hook steps in front of Tinkerbell immediately, using his hook to forcibly tilt up her chin to look at him. "You don't know what you are talking about."

Tinkerbell returns his glare, squaring her shoulders. "Please, she's not your type, and there is no way you are hers."

"I'm here with peaceful intentions, Tink – a parley if you will, but if you keep this up, I'll remind you just how rotten Captain Hook really is." He snarls.

"You should remember, Captain, that you are outnumbered here." She offers a warm smile, and sure enough, the rest of the group has noticed the confrontation going on between her and Hook. Now everyone has stopped, and most of the pixies have their weapons drawn and pointed at Hook.

"Killian!" At the sound of Emma's voice, he lifts his eyes from Tinkerbell's face, searching the crowd until he finds Emma. Once he does, he smiles. She's moving her way towards him, her mother urging her to stop. Soon his Swan is right in front of him and Tinkerbell, her hand on her sword.

"Aye." He answers, not bothering to remove his hook from under Tinkerbell's chin.

"Is everything good here?" Emma asks, her eyes focused more on Hook than Tinkerbell.

"The Captain and I were just having a talk." Tinkerbell says unconvincingly.

Emma raises an eyebrow – her superpower clearly hard at work. With a sigh, he releases Tinkerbell's chin, turning to face Emma completely. "All's well, Emma. Go back and talk with your mother before she tries to have me executed. I promise I'll behave."

Emma laughs. "Like you did at the bar?"

"That guy was asking to be thrown out of a window, and it's a tavern." Hook counters, a grin quickly spreading across his face as he remembers the sight of Emma smashing the drunken idiot Charlie's head into the bar after he made the mistake of being a little too forward in his pursuits. "As I recall, you weren't on your best behavior either."

"As I recall, you didn't mind." She flashes him a wide smile.

"I never do." He replies, cocking his head as he decides to give Emma a once over with his eyes, slowly. He makes a note to try to get her into some leather pants, the desire to see Emma' thighs and ass in skin tight leather suddenly consuming him. He takes his time when he gets to the corset, watching the rise and fall of her chest. Reluctantly, his eyes move away from her breasts and up to her collarbone and then neck – wanting nothing less than to run his lips up and down her skin, marking her as his own. With that, he comes to her lips which are currently pressed shut. Hook runs his tongue obscenely along the edge of his teeth, breaking out into a devilish grin when Emma's lips part slightly. Finally, he makes it up to her eyes. They are currently attempting to mask everything from him, but he knows he sees desire in them.

Unfortunately, her highness does not approve of all of this, and she makes it known by clearing her throat. Emma jumps slightly before resuming her composure. She gives him her best glare, which he meets with a smirk.

"Well if you two are being so civil, I guess there's no reason for us all to stand around with our weapons pointed at one another." She gives Hook a pointed glare, letting him know that the innuendo he picked up wasn't in his head.

Before he can comment, she is making her way back to the front of the pack with her mother. "Fucking Swan."

x.X.x.X.x

"Fucking pirate." Emma mutters as she and Mary Margaret make their way back to where they were, and continue to head to wherever the hell they are headed.

"Emma, what the hell was that?"

Emma's focuses jolts back to Mary Margaret, and she shrugs. "I can't afford having my ticket home get himself killed. It looked like that was becoming a real possibility. If Tinkerbell didn't do it, one of the other pixies would have."

"That's not what I mean." Mary Margaret offers a warm smile before continuing. "He was practically undressing you with his eyes, and you didn't seem to mind."

"Look, it's complicated, and it didn't bother me. I guess I'm used to it." Emma sighs. She spent the first half of their conversation trying to keep things focused on what Mary Margaret had been up to since falling through the portal. Emma isn't a sharer by any definition, and so talking about whatever kind of relationship she has with Hook isn't high on her to do list.

"Do you like him?"

"He's not too horrible." Emma manages a small smile. The truth is she likes him more than she should, but she knows she can't pin it off on being alone in a strange land. Honestly loneliness has nothing to do with it. Emma's used to be alone. She's been this way her entire life. It's normal to her. What's strange is the thought of sharing herself with someone. Henry is the first person in a long time to make her want to open up and let someone into her life. Now, she is starting to want that with Hook. Obviously not in the same was as with Henry, but Emma enjoys it when he is around. Those days she spent hiding out in his room alone were boring because she was alone, yes, but also she found herself missing him, missing their banter, missing his scent, missing his touch.

"I know that I've only been aware that I am your mother for a short period of time and that it will take some time for us both to adjust," she starts and Emma mentally prepares herself for the attempt of motherly advice and slight scolding that is about to come her way, "but if I didn't speak up and warn you, I would never forgive myself. He's a pirate, Emma. You should know enough about pirates to know that they are not to be trusted."

"So you've said, multiple times now. I'm well aware of the fact that he's a pirate, believe me. As if our first moments and his fashion choice weren't enough, there is the fact that I woke up on a pirate ship that made it perfectly clear to me."

"And yet you seem perfectly fine associating and flirting with him." Emma can tell she is doing her best not to sound too judgmental. Unfortunately for Mary Margaret, the edge in her voice is starting to come off a little strongly.

"From what I hear, the crowd you're running with isn't that peaceful either." Emma retorts, trying her best to divert the conversation from the 'you are flirting with Captain Hook' topic.

"These pixies have been nothing but nice to me." Mary Margaret lowers her voice slightly, apparently concerned that if the pixies knew Emma was speaking badly of them that it would not end well.

"Killian has been nothing but nice to me." Emma counters, matching Mary Margaret's lower tone. Of course there are moments when he was a little bit, well, pirate-like towards Emma, like the part where she woke up naked in his bed. There is no way Emma is going to bring that up to her mother, even though Hook already insinuated it.

"Well is our situations were reversed, I wouldn't be so trusting of him."

Emma scoffs. "Oh yeah? Why is that?"

"Because I'm married, and I wouldn't fall for his charms." Mary Margaret forgets that they were talking a little bit quietly apparently because she raises her voice to a slightly louder decibel than normal.

Emma stops walking, her mouth falling open. "Because all it takes is a guy to make some remarks about how good I look and suddenly I turn to jello? Speaking of your husband, from what Henry and his book have told me, you two didn't have the most conventional romance either, and don't even get me started on Whale."

Instead of waiting to hear whatever apology comes out of Mary Margaret's mouth, Emma decides it's time for a change of pace. She spins on her heels, shoving her way through some pixies back to where Hook is currently walking. Apparently after their last conversation, he and Tinkerbell decided it would be best not to socialize. She ignores his slightly shocked expression as she falls into step with him.

"Did you miss me, Princess? I thought you and the queen would be planning on how best to take back the kingdom." He grins, enjoying the news that Emma is in fact royalty.

"How's Tinkerbell? You two seemed to be getting along quite well." Emma says with a little bit of a bite to her words.

"Touché. Tink and I didn't leave things on the best of terms. She came with me after my stint in Neverland after Milah died. It seemed my pirate lifestyle and quest for revenge did not suit her, most likely because she was under the delusion that we were meant to be."

Emma glances over at him, taken back by his sudden desire to share. Back when they first met, she practically had to dig information out of him, but now he offers up this back story with Tinkerbell as if they share like this all the time. It doesn't even seem to strange for him, seeing as he is currently preoccupied with examining the way his hook catches the light. "Did you love her?" She asks quietly.

He shakes his head, and turns his gaze to hers, so she can see his eyes. "Not even a little bit."

There isn't a hint of deception in his words or his eyes, only indifference. Emma starts to reply, but he cuts her off with a wave of his hook. "I wasn't really looking for anything but revenge at that time, and even though love can come at the most inopportune times, nothing of the sort came with Tinkerbell. She was a friend, before she starting the rants of judgment and the hatred, far too hotheaded that pixie."

"Oh." She isn't really sure what else to say. This doesn't affect her view of Tinkerbell any more or less, but in a weird way, it means that she isn't a threat, at least romantically. Damnit, okay now she is admitting to there being a 'romantically' with Hook. If Mary Margaret wouldn't have kept pestering her about this, then 'romantically' wouldn't even be on her mind.

Hook scoffs. "You are really great to open up to. Fantastic listener." Emma rolls her eyes, eliciting a grin from him. "Your turn."

"My turn to do what exactly?"

"Share. Something is obviously bothering you, otherwise you would still be up there chatting with your mum, unless you missed my charming company." He winks.

Emma sighs, deciding on just how much to share with him. He senses her internal struggle and nudges her shoulder with his. "Come on, lass, what's ruining the cheery family reunion?"

"Mary Margaret doesn't seem to agree on some of the decisions I've made since coming here." Emma states carefully. "There's also the issue of she hasn't truly been my mother for very long, thanks to the curse, and so it still feels strange to get advice from someone you once gave relationship advice to."

"Oh." He states simply, mimicking her earlier response.

Emma turns to look at him, and once she sees the grin on his face, she starts to laugh. "I'm glad you can still make fun of me."

"It's what I live for, dearest Swan. Well that and catching a glimpse of your breasts in that stunning corset." He allows his eyes to stray downwards, his lips curving upwards in a grin.

"I really hope you run into a tree." She tries her best to keep her face neutral, but she can't help but to smile.

"If you are going to be a princess, you should really learn to treat your subjects with respect and kindness."

"I think I like the pirate method of doing things." She says calmly, earning an eyebrow raise from Hook. Without a word, she gives him a punch to the jaw, making him stagger backwards a bit. "It's much more satisfying."

After the initial shock wears off, he starts laughing. "You'd make a brilliant pirate." He manages to say, his hand going to his jaw, massaging it gently. Emma is pretty sure she can detect a hint of pride in his voice. Before she can answer though, the pixies in front of them come to a stop.

"Looks like we're here, pet."

"I didn't realize the pixies were crashing with the ewoks." Emma mutters as she takes in the supposed camp of the pixies. Camp isn't really the right word, seeing as campsites are on the ground. The pixies, however, are a fan of living in trees – elaborate tree houses to be precise.

"I swear sometimes I have no idea what you are saying."

Emma rolls her eyes, choosing not to try to explain the concept of Star Wars to him at this moment. She starts following the pixies as they make their way into the giant tree house complex.

* * *

**AN:** I hope you enjoyed the chapter! It's definitely a dialogue chapter. Everyone is reunited and needs to chat about their feelings. What else is there to do on a walk? So I thought up the ewok idea like Saturday or early Sunday, and then in the episode on Sunday, there is a Star Wars ringtone. I couldn't contain my laughter. I hope you enjoy my version of Tinkerbell.

Thank you for all of your favorites, reviews and follows. I love y'all. Chelsea, I love you and your sage story advice.


	11. Striking a Deal

Ch. 11: Striking a Deal

"So they are tiny bears? You mean like cubs? Why are there bears involved in a war that takes place in the stars?"

Emma sighs, reminding herself to limit the number of pop culture references when around Hook. He just wouldn't let this one go. They are currently walking high above the forest on some poorly built wooden bridge as the pixies lead them to the main hall or did they call it the gathering hall? A pestering pirate being behind her is not helping Emma's concentration. It's not that she is afraid of heights – it's that she is afraid of pixie workmanship. This bridge is swaying too much for her likings. "I'm going to need rum to continue this conversation. Look, once we get back to Storybrooke I will just show you Star Wars. It will make a lot more sense."

Without warning she feels the cool metal of his hook around her arm, and before she can process this, she is being is spun around and pulled backwards. She places her hands on his chest, steadying herself.

"Did you just ask me out on a date, Emma?" He asks, incredulous, and Emma can't help but shudder at the feeling of his breath on her skin.

No, she didn't…did she? Emma's eyes glance up to meet his, which are radiating something she hasn't seen in him yet – hope. "Just, you know, giving you extra motivation to get us back to Storybrooke. Plus, I can't continue this Star Wars discussion. Ewoks are just ewoks, okay?"

He's silent for a moment, and Emma finds herself trying to remember the last time he was quiet. Normally he has some innuendo to say, accompanied by a look that turns her legs to jello but not now. Right now he is simply looking at her, his eyes scanning hers for a sign or hint of something. Gently he presses his lips to hers, slowly kissing her. It doesn't take long for Emma to slide her hands up from his chest, wrapping her arms around his neck. This is a different kind of kiss for them. Usually their kisses are fueled by desire, threatening to burn them alive. Right now Hook is kissing her as if she is something to be savored, taking the time to taste every part of her, not rushing it.

All too soon, he pulls away. "It's a date."

Emma gives a nod, unsure of what to do in this moment. She settles for what's easy and familiar. "Try not to get too cocky, Hook, if that's even possible. Oh, and don't even think about looking at my ass." With that, she spins around, and starts walking. Their group has gotten a little ways ahead of them, and Emma picks up her pace slightly, not feeling comfortable walking too quickly.

"I make no promises, Swan." He chuckles. "If you don't want me looking, you should probably pick up the pace."

"Excuse me for being concerned about the craftsmanship of this bridge. I'd rather not fall to my death."

"You're not getting out of our date that easily, pet." She can hear the smirk from here. Next time she should really think before she speaks. He's never going to let this date thing go.

It takes them awhile, but they finally make it to the grand ballroom or whatever the pixies call it. Grand is definitely the word that comes to mind when Emma sees it. For something that's suspended on possibly the most poorly made bridges she has ever seen, the room is spacious. Currently there are chairs gathered around for a meeting, but Emma can also see there being room to hold functions like a dance. Do pixies have dances? They have to do something for entertainment. Nevertheless, Emma's glad to not only be off the wooden bridge of doom, but to also be around other people. To say that Hook has been annoying is an understatement. Between the asking for specifics about the date and how one actually watches Star Wars, he had fun gently nudging her back, making her topple forward slightly. He insists it was hilarious, but he didn't find it so funny when Emma insisted that she punch him in the jaw.

"I was starting to think you got lost." Mary Margaret says once Emma and Hook make their way into the room.

"It seems the princess isn't too fond of heights. I've seen drunks move at a faster pace." Hook replies cheekily. Emma replies with an eye roll and a slap to his arm, both of which make him grin even more.

"Not to interrupt this fascinating tale, but do you mind telling us why you are here?" Tink states, giving Hook a glare.

Judging by Hook and Tinkerbell's stare off, Emma decides it would be best if she does the talking. "We need your help." Tink raises an eyebrow, shifting her attention to Emma. Taking a deep breath, Emma sits down next to Mary Margaret, giving her a smile before returning her focus to Tink. "As I'm sure Mary – err Snow has told you about how we both ended up here. We have people waiting on us back home, and Killian has a plan on how to get us there. He said that you might be able to help."

At the mention of his name, Hook offers Emma a smile and sits down in the chair next to her, moving it a bit too close for Mary Margaret's comfort. "That I do."

Expectantly, all eyes shift towards him, and as a response, Hook leans back in his chair with a smile as if he has said all he needs to say.

"This is the part where you share." Mary Margaret states calmly, as if talking to one of the kids in her class.

"Oh right. We will be needing some of your pixie dust." Hook states nonchalantly as if asking for something as commonplace as dirt.

Tink tilts her head as if looking to see if Hook is joking or not. After a minute, she laughs. "Anything else you need? Some gold or treasure?"

He grins. "You know better than to ask that of a pirate. We've got a weakness for those things. We love treasure almost as much as we love a pretty lass."

Emma elbows him in the gut, enjoying the noise of pain he makes. "What he means is, is there any way you can help us out?"

"You will need more to get back to your realm. Pixie dust is powerful but it can't do everything."

"It's a good thing I've got something else up my sleeve then, isn't it?" Hook says, not really giving away specific details of the plan.

Emma's eyes flicker between Hook and Tink. Much like she did at the bar, Emma's laying back to watch things unfold. It doesn't take a genius to see that Tink is digging for information, and that Hook is intent on keeping some things a secret. Honestly, if Tinkerberll wasn't raising multiple red flags on Emma's radar, she would be pressing Hook for information herself. Emma's been screwed over too many times to be okay with being in the dark about things. She likes knowing all the details. It's easier to construct an escape plan that way.

"Just name your price, Tink." Hook sighs, annoyed with how long the pixie is dragging out this conversation.

"To come along."

"Excuse me?" Emma doesn't even try to hide the shock in her voice.

"That's my price. Pixie dust for passage to your realm."

"Deal." Mary Margaret states using what Emma's believes is her authoritative 'I am the Queen of this realm' voice.

"Wait hold on a second, why would you want to come to Storybrooke? I mean last time I checked, there was a giant boundary around it. You can't even leave. There's no magic there, to my knowledge. What is your motive?" Emma's eyes begin scanning Tink, looking for any clues.

"I hardly see how it is any of your concern." Tinkerbell snaps.

"As the sheriff, it's nothing but my concern." Emma replies with good bit of edge in her voice.

"Emma, I owe Tink a lot. It's the least we can do."

Instead of answering, Emma's eyes glance over to gauge Hook's reaction.

x.X.x.X.x

There's something unnerving about how close Emma's gotten to Hook. Sure, she's only known that she is her mother for a short while now, but Mary Margaret's maternal instincts are in over drive right now. It's a combination of a lot of things that are bothering her. For one, Hook's flirting is obvious and bordering on obscene, and yet Emma doesn't mind it. A couple of times it looks like she is actually enjoying the attention. There isn't any charm in Hook's methods. Nothing comes across as sincere to Mary Margaret. All she picks up on is the fact that Hook wants Emma in one way only, and that's something Mary Margaret cannot have. Emma deserves more than a pirate who will leave her once he's grown tired.

When she mentioned her concerns to Emma, things did not go well. While Mary Margaret will be the first to agree that she and Charming did not have the most conventional relationship, theirs is nothing like whatever Hook and Emma have going on. Charming saved her life multiple times, and she did the same for him. They would do anything for one another. Hook's a pirate, which means that he is only in it for himself.

She sighs, watching the two of them from across the room. They're sitting so close together that Emma might as well jump in his lap.

"You're right to be concerned." Tinkerbell's voice jolts Mary Margaret out of her musings. She glances up to see her friend offer a warm smile before sitting next to her.

"It's not my place. As much as I would love to protect her, she's old enough to do it herself.

"You're her mother, Snow. It's your right to step in." Tink offers with a smile.

"I'm her mother that wasn't there for the first 28 years of her life. I tried to warn her, and it just ended up coming out all wrong. I need to try a different tactic."

"I may have something that could help."

Mary Margaret raises an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

As a response, Tink merely presents a small pouch.

"We couldn't!"

x.X.x.X.x

Emma quickly glances over her shoulder, ensuring that Tinkerbell is out of earshot. "Okay, spill."

Hook raises an eyebrow, confused. "Spill what?"

"What's the plan, and will Tink cause me or Storybrooke any trouble if we let her go back with us?" Emma whispers part of it, still not entirely certain that Tinkerbell can't hear them.

He begins running the tip of his hook lightly across Emma's thighs, enjoying watching her shudder. "You know, I don't think they are paying too much attention right now. We could do something else instead of worry about that blasted pixie."

Emma closes her eyes, allowing herself to enjoy the sensation for a couple seconds longer than she should, before she lightly pushes away his hook. "I'm serious, Killian."

"My plan is foolproof, don't you worry about that. As for Tink, she has never be fond of hurting people, at least not the pixie I knew. But, she never seemed like a warrior pixie either."

"I don't trust her." She states coldly.

"Love, you don't trust anyone." His smile is playful, but Emma knows he is being serious.

"I trust you." Emma glances up at meets Hook's eyes, offering a warm smile.

"Well then, you just leave the pixie problem to me."

* * *

**AN: **Thank you everyone for your patience. Well, okay most of y'all were patient, some not so much. Life started to pick up, what with vacation and grad school applications and so on. I'm probably going to be slower on the updates (slower meaning not necessarily updating every week). I'm going to try to do my best though! If you ever have fic related questions, feel free to pm me here or reach out to me on tumblr (allisoniskiller).

Thank you to everyone who favorites, follows, and reviews this fic! You have no idea how much it means to me!


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